KASARAGOD: Kasaragod Judicial First Class Magistrate Court - II has directed the police to register an FIR against BJP state president K Surendran for allegedly bribing the BSP's K Sundara to pull out of the Assembly election in Manjeshwar.
The direction was issued on a petition filed by CPM district committee member and LDF candidate in Manjeshwar V V Rameshan.
"We moved the court demanding a police investigation into the statements made by K Sundara who said he was bribed to withdraw from the election," said advocate C Shukkur, who represented Rameshan in the court.
Shukkur said the petition named only BJP state president K Surendran as an accused. "It is up to the police to find out the others involved in the case," he said.
K Sundara, who was fielded by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Manjeshwar, first told the news media and then the Badiadka police that he was abducted and illegally detained by BJP activists and forced to withdraw his nomination papers. He also said he was given Rs 2.5 lakh and a Chinese smartphone worth Rs 15,000 by Surendran's close aide Sunil Naik, BJP's Manjeshwar constituency secretary Suresh Naik (not related) and BJP member Ashok Shetty after he withdrew his nomination papers.
The court directed the police to register the FIR against Surendran for election bribery (Section 171 B of the IPC) but based on the statement made by Sundara, more sections and accused will be added, said Kasaragod deputy superintendent of police P P Sadanandan.
Sunil Naik, Suresh Naik and Ashok Shetty would also be added to the FIR and booked for illegal gratification, abduction, illegal detention, and criminal intimidation, he said.
Of these charges, Section 365 of the IPC that deals with abduction with the intention to illegally confine a person attracts imprisonment of up to seven years and is a non-bailable offence, Sadanandan said. The FIR -- to be registered in Badiadka police station -- will be the 249th criminal case against BJP state president K Surendran.
In the 2016 Assembly election, Sundara got 467 votes and BJP's Surendran lost the election by 89 votes.
Many attributed Surendran's narrow defeat to Sundara garnering 467 votes.
But in 2021, Surendran lost by 745 votes. Another namesake, Surendran M, got 197 votes.