KOCHI: The Crime Branch on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against K Surendran, BJP state president and five other party leaders before the Kasaragod Sessions Court in the Manjeswar election bribery case.
According to a complaint filed by K Sundara, BJP leaders kidnapped him and gave him Rs 2.5 lakh and a mobile phone worth Rs 15,000 to withdraw his nomination papers from the Manjeshwar Assembly election in May 2021.
Sundara was fielded by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Manjeshwar in 2021 because he garnered 467 votes in the 2016 Assembly election as an independent candidate.
In 2016, BJP’s Surendran lost to Indian Union Muslim League’s P B Abdul Razak by 89 votes. Several BJP leaders blamed Sundara for the defeat of Surendran and believed he might have got some BJP votes because of the similarity in names.
Surendran first accused
In the chargesheet, Surendran is arraigned as the first accused. BJP leaders- Manikanda Rai, Suresha Y, Sunil Naik, Balakrishna Shetty and Logesh Londa are the others included in the chargesheet.