KASARAGOD: The Kasaragod district crime branch has taken over the investigation into the FIR against BJP state president K Surendran for allegedly bribing a rival candidate K Sundara to pull out of the assembly election in Manjeshwar.
The case will be investigated by District Crime Branch deputy superintendent of police Satheesh Kumar A.
The FIR was registered under section 117 B of the IPC (election bribery) on the direction of Kasaragod Judicial First Class Magistrate Court - II on a petition filed by CPM district committee member and LDF candidate in Manjeshwar V V Rameshan.
Badiadka station house officer Inspector Salim said the case file would be transferred to the district crime branch soon.
The case hinges on a statement given by Sundara to police that BJP leaders Suresh Naik and Ashok Shetty and Surendran's confidant Sunil Naik gave him Rs 2.5 lakh and a Chinese smartphone worth Rs 15,000 to withdraw from the election.
He had also alleged that he was abducted in Suresh Naik's car and illegally detained to pressurise him to pull out of the election.
Kasaragod DySP P P Sadanandan told The New Indian Express on Monday that Suresh Naik, Ashok Shetty, and Sunil Naik would also be booked in the case and charged with illegal gratification, abduction, illegal detention, and criminal intimidation.
The BJP might have perceived Sundara to be a threat because he garnered 467 votes in the 2016 Assembly election when he contested as an independent candidate in Manjeshwar. In the same election, the BJP's Surendran lost by 89 votes.
This year, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fielded Sundara but he withdrew his nomination papers on March 22.
Surendran went on to lose the election by 745 votes. Another namesake, Surendran M, got 197 votes.
Police threatening Sundara: BJP
Meanwhile, BJP district president K Shreekanth told reporters on Tuesday that Sundara made the allegations against the BJP leaders under threat from the Kerala police.
"Sundara withdrew the nomination papers on his free will. The police threatened him to make the statement against the BJP. The police are working as a spatula of the state government," Shreekanth said.
On Monday, he alleged the complaint was a conspiracy of the CPM and the Indian Union Muslim League.
Sundara moved to Congress pocket
Meanwhile, Sundara and his mother moved out of his house at Vaninagar in Enmakaje to his uncle's house at Shenni in the same panchayat. He said he and his mother shifted house fearing threats from the BJP.
Vaninagar is a pocket of the BJP and Shenni is a stronghold of the Congress. Sundara is a sympathiser of the UDF.