Thrissur: In the Kodakara heist case, police have reported that Rs 1.4 crore of the Rs 3.5 crore stolen money remains unaccounted. 

According to the charge sheet, the accused allegedly used Rs 30.29 lakh to buy gold for family members, which has since been seized by police.

Following the heist in 2021, the accused reportedly stayed in luxury accommodations and travelled in high-end vehicles. 

Meanwhile, some of the accused allegedly distributed money to individuals in need and used it to pay off arrears, making recovery impossible.

As per the charge sheet, after dividing the loot, the 15th accused, Shigil, along with the 22nd accused, Rashid, travelled to Kullu, Manali, Chennai, and Tirupati. Additionally, the 13th accused, Abdulsalam, along with the 16th and 17th accused, Rasheed and Rauf, stayed in Kodagu, Karnataka.

The investigation also revealed that the third accused, Ranjith, gave Rs 17 lakh of his share to his wife, Deepti, while the 10th accused, Shahid, provided Rs 10 lakh to his wife, Jinsha, of which Rs 9 lakh was given to Jinsha’s grandmother. Police have reportedly not recovered the unspent amounts.

Kodakara Case

The Kodakara heist took place three days before the state elections on April 6, 2021. In the wee hours of April 3, a group of people waylaid a car (KL-56G 6789) by blocking it from both sides using two cars. Subsequently, the complainant, who is the driver of the car, and his friend were dragged out of the car and manhandled. A sum of Rs 25 lakh and the car, worth rupees eight lakh, were stolen in the incident.

Soon after the incident, the driver of the vehicle, Shamjeer Shamsudeen, informed Dharmarajan, who is named as a hawala agent by police in the chargesheet, about the robbery. A day after the elections, Shamjeer Shamsudeen complained to the Kodakara police station. The investigation later found that the robbed amount was not Rs 25 lakh but Rs 3.5 crore. Police also claim that the money was sourced illegally from Bengaluru through the hawala agent for meeting the expenses of the BJP in the state polls.

However, the police could not trace Rs 1.47 crore of the Rs 3.5 crore that was robbed. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested 22 people and there are 219 witnesses in the case, including prominent BJP leaders. However, none of the BJP leaders were named in the chargesheet submitted by the SIT in the Thrissur Sessions Court. Police were unable to register a case against the BJP leaders as 'hawala dealings' were not within their purview.

It was at this juncture, that various political party leaders and social activists approached the ED to intervene and to register a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, of 2002. However, ED did not respond to the requests. Usually, ED takes up such cases involving crores of rupees, if there is a predicate offence (a case registered by any law enforcing body).