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BJP Kerala chief, 5 others get bail in election bribery case
All the accused, including Surendran, were present in court during the hearing on Wednesday. This is the first time the state BJP chief attended the hearing in the case
The Kasaragod district court on Wednesday granted bail to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kerala chief K Surendran and five others in connection with the Manjeswaram election bribery case.
All the accused, including Surendran, were present in court during the hearing on Wednesday. This is the first time the state BJP chief attended the hearing in the case.
The case pertains to Surendran and five other BJP leaders being booked by the Kerala crime branch on charges of threatening and bribing a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate K Sundara in the Manjeshwaram assembly election in 2021. The accused allegedly tried to persuade him to withdraw his name. At that time, Sundara had told the police that he was “paid a bribe of ₹ 2.5 lakh and a smartphone by BJP leaders to withdraw from the contest which he eventually did”.
Earlier on October 10, the court had directed all the accused to appear before it as they had skipped four hearings. The accused, including Surendran had also filed a discharge plea before the court arguing that the charges against them “won’t stand the scrutiny of law”. The court then said that the accused should be present physically on October 25 before it considers the discharge plea.The next hearing in the case is on November 15.
Sundara, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, had bagged 467 votes as an Independent candidate in the 2016 assembly election in which Surendran who fought on the BJP ticket had lost by 89 votes. After this the accused allegedly persuaded Sundara to opt out of the race in the 2021 election.
Reacting to the development, Surendran told reporters on Wednesday, “This is a false case hoisted on me by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders out of political vendetta. The police took my detailed statement. I was never arrested. I had given a discharge plea requesting to cancel the police chargesheet. So, I was expecting to get the bail.”
The CPI(M) has not reacted yet to the development.
