KASARAGOD: Kasaragod Crime Branch questioned BJP state president K Surendran for one hour and 15 minutes in connection with a case of bribing and threatening his rival K Sundara to withdraw from the Manjeshwar assembly election.
Surendran was questioned by a team of officers led by District Crime Branch DySP Satheesh Kumar A. Surendran told the investigators that he did not know Sundara and the fake case was foisted on him. The case under Section 171 B of the IPC (election bribery) was registered in June under the direction of a Kasaragod court and this is the first time the police are questioning him.
According to Sundara, the BJP leaders took him away on March 20 (Saturday). On March 21, he was given Rs 2.5 lakh by Surendran’s aide Sunil Naik and BJP leaders Suresh Naik and Ashok Shetty. He said they also gave him a Chinese phone worth Rs 15,000 bought from a shop at Neerchal in Badiadka.
On March 21, Sunil Naik had posted photographs of him with Sundara and his mother on his Facebook.
On March 22, Sundara withdrew his nomination papers from the election. Surendran said he was not in Kasaragod on the day when Sundara was allegedly given money.
He said he turned up for the questioning because he had faith in the legal system. “All the three cases (Kodakara hawala case, Wayanad bribery, and Manjeshwar bribery case) are fabricated... I have told the officers what I know,” he said. DySP Satheesh Kumar said Surendran did not cooperate with the investigating team. “He did not respond to our questioning,” he said.