The Kodakara black money heist case, which has put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the dock, may be reduced to a mere theft case, it is learnt.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case is planning to file a chargesheet at an Irinjalakuda court on July 23 without the name of any BJP leader. The SIT has questioned 19 BJP leaders, including State president K. Surendran, for hours in the case.
With this, the controversial case may be reduced to a theft case after a 100-day investigation by the SIT.
Only the 22 people remanded in judicial custody may be named in the chargesheet. It is not still clear whether statements of the BJP leaders may appear as ‘witness statements’ in the chargesheet.
All the BJP leaders, questioned by the SIT, unanimously agreed that they knew Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker Dharmarajan, who brought the money. They told the police that Dharmarajan had the responsibility to distribute campaign material of the party.
It is learnt that the chargesheet, however, links the BJP with the source of the money. But it can be investigated only by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The police still could not prove that the money was meant for the BJP’s election campaign.
After filing the chargesheet, the SIT will hand over its detailed report to the ED. The police may also recommend handing over the case to the ED.
An amount of ₹3.5 crore and a car were stolen by a gang at Kodakara on April 3. Though the driver of the car lodged a complaint about theft of ₹25 lakh, the police found that the actual amount involved was ₹3.5 crore. The police recovered a part of the money and the car and arrested 22 people. The police have mentioned that it is difficult to recover the entire stolen money.
Dharmarajan, who filed a case demanding the recovered money and the car, had told the court that the money was for business purposes.
