Kerala BJP President K Surendran and five others failed to appear before the Kasaragod District and Sessions Court on Thursday in the Manjeswaram election bribery case.

They skipped court appearance despite stringent instruction by the sessions court to all the accused to be present on 21 September.

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Meanwhile, Surendran and the other accused have filed a petition seeking discharge in the case under Section 227 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). They pleaded that they were innocent and the case was fabricated by the police with political motives.

The court will hear the petition on 4 October.

According to prosecution, the BJP leaders forced K Sundara, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in the Manjeswaram constituency in the 2021 Assembly election, to withdraw his nomination paper by bribing and intimidating him.

The case, registered by the Badiadka Police, was later investigated by a special Crime Branch team and submitted the chargesheet before the court.

The complaint was made by VV Ramesan, who was the CPIM-led LDF candidate from Manjeswaram constituency in the 2021 Assembly elections.

K Surendran is the first accused in the case while former Kasargod district BJP president K Balakrishna Shetty, former state Yuva Morcha treasurer Sunil Naik, party leaders K Manikanda Rai, Suresh and Lokesh Noda are the other accused in the case.