Kodakara heist case probe handed over to ED: Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 06 (PTI):
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said the police had handed over details of the probe into the Kodakara hawala heist case, allegedlyinvolvingthe BJP state leadership, to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the central investigation agency had sought the same.
Vijayan, who was replying to an adjournment motion on the issue, said the ED sought the details on May 27 and the police submitted them on June 1 itself. However, the hawala heist case led to a war of words between the Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan and Vijayan in the state Assembly after the Congress leader asked whether there was a plan on part of the Left government to compromise the case for the BJP.
Vijayan retorted and said his party never had any history of compromise with the BJP and said all the culprits in this case will be brought before law. “We doubt whether the police and the Left government have effectively investigated the source and funding of black money at the behest of BJP leaders in Kerala. One fine day, the central investigation agencies almost ended the probe in Kerala over the gold smuggling case just before the elections. We doubt whether you both will reach a compromise,” Satheesan said.
The adjournment motion was moved by Congress MLA Shafi Parambil, who said the BJP was trying to destroy the democratic set-up of the country by pumping black money during elections and asked the police to act in an unbiased manner. However, Vijayan attacked the opposition Congress and pointed out that it was the thenOommen Chandy government which had withdrawn the case against Pravin Togadia.
“We all know who are experts in compromise. The case against Praveen Togadiya was withdrawn by the Congress party. We are not worried. We are not from your school of politics. We will not compromise,” Vijayan said.
The Oommen Chandy government had in 2014 withdrawn a case registered against Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Togadia for his speech in Kozhikode on July 8, 2003.
Vijayan also said it was the Congress government which had withdrawn the case against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) workers who had bombed a police constable during a violence at a college here. He said theuse of black money during election time is to subvert the democratic process in the country.