In a brand new twist to the sensational freeway heist case wherein allegations of “hawala” connections had been raised towards the Kerala BJP management, three individuals, together with the complainant, filed a declare petition in a court docket right here on Tuesday searching for the discharge of the cash and the automobile seized by the police from the culprits.
Of their petition filed earlier than the judicial Justice of the Peace’s court docket in Irinjalakuda close to right here, the complainant within the case, Shamjeer, and two others — Dharmaraj and Sunil Kumar — claimed that the cash looted from the automotive was meant for enterprise functions.
They claimed that the stolen cash and the automotive used to move it belonged to them.
The event got here a day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan knowledgeable the state Meeting that the police had handed over the small print of the probe into the April four Kodakara hawala heist case allegedly involving the state BJP management to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The petitioners submitted that the cash amounting to Rs 1.four crore, the gold ornaments and different articles seized by the police from the arrested culprits within the heist case and produced earlier than the court docket had been a part of the stolen property.
Due to this fact, petitioners Dharmaraj and Sunil Kumar, who require the cash for enterprise functions, had approached the police requesting that no less than the seized money could also be returned to them, they submitted.
The stolen cash belongs to the petitioners, with Dharmaraj being the proprietor of an quantity of Rs 3.25 crore and Sunil Kumar being the proprietor of Rs 25 lakh. The third petitioner, Shamjeer, is the proprietor of the Ertiga automotive wherein the cash was stored, the petitioners claimed.
The BJP in Kerala, dealing with fees of utilizing “hawala” cash within the April 6 Meeting polls, has accused the CPI(M)-led LDF authorities within the state of enjoying the “politics of revenge” towards it in reference to the freeway heist.
The saffron occasion has alleged that as an alternative of checking the decision lists of the accused within the heist case, the police had been going by way of the decision listing of Dharmaraj, who’s the complainant within the case.
As an alternative of nabbing the robbers and recovering the cash, the police are how the case may be linked to the BJP, as the one who misplaced the cash had helped the occasion in its election marketing campaign, it has alleged.
The BJP has additionally alleged that barring one, all others arrested within the case are related to the CPI(M) and the CPI.
On Monday, the “hawala” heist case led to a confrontation between the chief minister and Chief of the Opposition V D Satheesan within the state Meeting, after the Congress chief requested whether or not there was a plan on a part of the Left authorities to compromise the case for the BJP.
In keeping with a grievance filed by Shamjeer Samsudheen on April 7, a gang had stopped his automotive on the Kodakara flyover right here and looted Rs 25 lakh stored within the automobile when he was on his method to Kochi from Kozhikode.
Although the grievance had mentioned solely Rs 25 lakh had been stolen, the investigators later discovered that the precise quantity may very well be about Rs 3.5 crore and it was a “hawala” transaction.
Police have arrested 21 individuals in reference to the case.