Thrissur, Kerala: Contradicting the Kerala Police’s findings, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a special court in Kochi regarding the 2021 highway robbery of Rs 3.5 crore in Thrissur’s Kodakara.

While the Kerala Police had concluded that the looted money was intended for the BJP’s election fund ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, the ED claimed in its complaint that the cash was meant for purchasing property, giving BJP a clean chit in the case.

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The Kodakara Hawala Case

Three days before the Kerala assembly elections, a robbery took place near the Kodakara flyover on April 3, 2021.

In its charge sheet submitted to an Irinjalakuda court in July 2021, the Kerala Police had stated that the money was intended for BJP’s election fund. Citing several statements and gathered evidence, the state police alleged that Kozhikode-based RSS worker AK Dharmarajan had brought the cash from Karnataka on the instructions of BJP secretary Ganeshan and the party’s state office secretary G Gireeshan.

Kerala Police had then recommended a probe by the ED and Income Tax Department to trace the source of funds.

Ahead of the by-elections to assembly seats in Kerala, in November 2023, former BJP office secretary in Thrissur, Thiroor Satheesh, told the media that illicit funds had allegedly been delivered to the party office in bags under the guise of election campaign material. His statements had prompted the Kerala police to conduct further investigation into the matter.

The BJP, however, dismissed the claims and in turn accused CPIM of being behind Santheesh. The party claimed that it had removed Satheesh for “financial anomalies.”

The ED complaint submitted in the court under Section 44 of PMLA suggested that Dharmajan had dispatched money through his driver Shamjeer to buy a property in Alappuzha, which was then stolen at Kodakara flyover.

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In addition, the ED seized Rs 3 lakh in cash and assets worth Rs 8 lakh belonging to Dharmajan. The investigative agency emphasised that its probe was limited to money transactions following the heist.

The BJP has, however, distanced itself from the case.