Kerala BJP chief K Surendran appears in Manjeswaram bribery case, gets bail

KOCHI: The Kasaragod district court on Wednesday granted bail to six Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including party unit chief K Surendran in the Manjeswaram election bribery case.

This was the first time that Surendran and the other five BJP leaders appeared before the court in this case in connection with allegations that they bribed an independent candidate to withdraw from the election in Manjeswaram. In 2021, Surendran contested and lost from two seats, Manjeswaram and Konni.

After getting bail on Wednesday, Surendran said the development was on expected lines. “This is a false case foisted on me by CPM leaders out of political vendetta. The police have taken a detailed statement from me and never arrested me. I had given a discharge plea requesting to cancel the police chargesheet”.

Surendran had skipped the previous four court hearings. The accused including Surendran also filed a discharge plea before the court arguing that the charges against them would not stand the scrutiny of law but the court insisted that they first appear in court before the discharge plea could be taken up.

The next hearing of the case would take place on November 15.

Surendran and the five others were booked on charges of threatening and bribing K Sundara, a BSP candidate in the Manjeshwaram assembly election in 2021, to persuade him to withdraw from the election fray. Sundara told the police that he was paid a bribe of ₹2.5 lakh and a smartphone by the BJP leaders to withdraw from the contest which he eventually did.

Sundara, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, had secured 467 votes as an Independent candidate in the 2016 assembly election in which Surendran, as the BJP candidate, lost by just 89 votes.

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