Relief for Kerala BJP chief K Surendran; Court acquits him in Manjeswaram election bribery case

Kerala BJP chief K. Surendran was accused of offering Rs 2.5 lakh and a smartphone to BSP candidate Sundara to withdraw from the 2021 Assembly election, while also making threats. He and five other leaders were acquitted of the charges by the Kasaragod Sessions Court.

Kasaragod: In a significant relief for Kerala BJP chief K. Surendran, a lower court acquitted him of charges related to the Manjeswaram election bribery case on Saturday (Oct 05). Along with him, five other leaders were also cleared of the charges. The order from the Kasaragod Sessions Court followed a discharge petition filed by the defendants. All defendants were present in court as per the court's directive.

The case against Surendran claims that during the 2021 Assembly election, he offered Rs 2.5 lakh and a smartphone to BSP candidate Sundara to persuade him to withdraw his candidacy, while also threatening him.

The first accused in the case was K. Surendran, the BJP state president. K. Manikandan Rai and Suresh Y were the second and third accused, respectively. The fourth accused was Sunil Naik, the former state treasurer of the youth wing. The fifth and sixth accused were K. Balakrishna Shetty, the former BJP district president, and Lokesh Noda.

Sundara, who is from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, received 467 votes as an Independent candidate in the 2016 assembly election, where Surendran, representing the BJP, lost by a narrow margin of just 89 votes.

The case filed by the Badiadka police was subsequently investigated by a special team led by District Crime Branch DySP A. Satish Kumar, with the chargesheet later submitted to the court. The complaint was lodged by V.V. Ramesan, who was the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate for Manjeswaram in the Assembly election.