BJP State president K. Surendran has termed the recent notice served on him by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the Kodakara black money heist case as an attempt by the CPI(M) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to divert attention from the Karipur gold smuggling case.
The BJP leader, who attended a press meet here on Saturday, however, was non-committal on whether he would appear before the SIT at Thrissur on Tuesday.
Mr. Surendran said that the investigation into the Karipur case had now reached the doorsteps of senior CPI(M) leaders. Arjun Ayanki, one of the accused, had reportedly pointed towards the involvement of ‘Kodi’ Suni, a convict in T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case, who has close links with Marxist leaders.
“More information is now coming out on this. The SIT notice is a bid to divert the attention from the case. But, I have nothing to hide. I will cooperate with the police,” Mr. Surendran said.
Asked if he would appear before the inquiry team, the BJP leader said he had to attend the State executive meeting of the party on that day. “I have been asked to depose as a witness and it is not mandatory to appear the same day. I got the notice only yesterday, but the party meeting had been scheduled much before,” Mr. Surendran said.
Meanwhile, the BJP leader accused the State government and the CPI(M) of harassing the Kitex Group and forcing it to scrap a project to invest around ₹3,500 crore in the garment manufacturing sector and private industrial parks. He also claimed that the government was under reporting on COVID-19 deaths. Mr. Surendran alleged that only one third of the total deaths that happened due to the pandemic were reported here. “We will present a report to the Central expert team that will visit the State in the coming days,” he added.
