CPI(M) to stage stir against ED over 2021 Kodakara heist case
The march would be inaugurated by the party’s politburo member A Vijayaraghavan at 10 am in front of the central agency’s office in Kochi tomorrow, the party said in a statement.
The CPI(M) said that it would take out a march to the office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in Kochi on Friday to register its protest against the agency’s alleged clean chit to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the 2021 Kodakara money heist case.
The march would be inaugurated by the party’s politburo member A Vijayaraghavan at 10 am in front of the central agency’s office in Kochi tomorrow, the party said in a statement.
CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan said: “The party would use political and legal means at the state and national levels to expose the Union government’s use of the ED to target political rivals and help out leaders of the BJP involved in money laundering cases.”
The ED earlier this week submitted a prosecution complaint in a special court in Kochi in the 2021 Kodakara case in which ₹3.56 crore and a car were stolen by a gang at Kodakara in Thrissur district. The state police, which initially probed the case, stated that the money, stolen on April 3, 2021 in the run-up to the assembly elections that year, was part of a larger tranche of money illegally brought into the state from Karnataka for the election expenses of the BJP.
The police had arrested around 22 people and questioned several leaders including then president K Surendran. However, the ED has reportedly told the court that the money was being shifted by one Dharmaraj in connection with the purchase of a hotel in Alappuzha. The agency also named 23 people as accused in the complaint.
Govindan alleged that the ED had not questioned then BJP office secretary T Satheesh who had deposed to the police about the hawala transactions.
“It is clear that the ED sabotaged the Kodakara hawala case. The complaint filed by the agency in court is proof of how a case can be scientifically eliminated. The complaint underscores the general opinion of the agency today. It made political interventions to help the BJP and prepare a complaint in its favour in court,” Govindan said.
