Kodakara ‘hawala money’: Letter sent by Kerala police official suggests ED sat idle on the report

Thiruvananthapuram: Indications suggest that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sat idle on the report of the Kerala police regarding the Kodakara hawala money case for around three years. A copy of the letter sent by Assistant Commissioner VK Raju, who led the special investigation team of Kerala police regarding the case, has been leaked to the media, suggesting that the ED has not taken any action regarding the case, even after the Kerala police report demanded urgency from the ED.

VK Raju sent the letter to the Deputy Director of the ED in Kochi on August 21, 2021. Though the letter was sent three years ago, the ED has yet to take any steps regarding this matter. The Kerala police initially started the investigation by treating the incident as only a case of robbery. However, as the investigation team delved deeper into the case, they realized that there was a significant conspiracy behind the operation.

Many questions were raised regarding the source of the money in the vehicle. The police also discovered that there was more money in the vehicle than what was reported stolen. The incident occurred in 2021 when money transported in the vehicle was stolen at Kodakara. Shamjeer, the driver of the vehicle, informed the police that Rs. 25 lakhs was stolen. According to his statement, the money was sent by an individual named Sunil Naik of Kozhikode to another person named Dharmarajan of Ernakulam. When the police inspected the vehicle, they found secret compartments.

Following this, police interrogated Dharmarajan, who was the complainant. During the interrogation, he stated that there was more money in the vehicle and that it had been stolen. He claimed the money was for his business and mentioned that this was not the first time he had been robbed, as money brought from Bengaluru had been stolen previously as well. Later, he admitted that the money was intended for the election campaign of the BJP in the state. This was noted in the letter sent by Raju to the ED.

In the subsequent investigation, state police discovered that the actual amount stolen from the vehicle was not Rs. 25 lakhs, as mentioned in the complaint, but Rs. 3.5 crores. Of this, the Kerala police had recovered Rs. 1 crore. In the letter sent to the ED, Raju stated that more than Rs. 2 crores needed to be recovered. Additionally, Dharmarajan claimed that Rs. 4.04 crores had been stolen on March 6, 2021, at Konganapuram, near Salem.