‘Martyrs Fund collected Rs one crore, MLA embezzled 46 lakhs, CM was aware’; reveals CPM leader

KANNUR: The CPM Kannur district committee member V Kunhikrishnan has revealed that money was embezzled from the Martyrs' Fund. The revelation was that the fraud was noticed in the fund related to the martyrdom of an activist named Dhanaraj, who was killed in 2016.

'The fund was raised in 2016 itself. An area conference was held in Karivellur on December 8 and 9, 2017. The income and expenses till then were presented in the conference. The party later took the initiative to build a house for Dhanaraj's family. The figures for this were not presented until 2021. The conference was later held in 2021. I became the party's area secretary in 2020.

I was responsible for presenting the figures in the conference. I was assigned to audit the figures related to the assembly elections in 2021. A strange thing came to my attention then. More than 10 lakh less was noticed in the income presented in the 2017 session. The total amount collected was about one crore rupees. There were irregularities in the funds collected for the construction of the house. Taking all this into account, the committee did not accept the figure.

The figure presented was that more than Rs 34 lakh were needed for the construction of the house. A cheque of Rs 35.25 lakh rupees was paid. When examined, found that Rs 29.25 lakh went to the contractor's account and Rs 5 lakh to the then area secretary's account. Rs 40 lakh were used for the construction of AKG Bhavan, but they have funds. There is no need to take it from the Dhanraj fund.

The Dhanraj Martyrs Fund was embezzled by Payyannur MLA T A Madhusoodhanan. More than a crore was collected and embezzled Rs 46 lakh. A complaint was filed with the party along with evidence. However, the party covered up the fraud without taking action. Rs 70 lakh was embezzled from the party office construction fund. Met the then state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and convinced him of the fraud. Convinced M V Govindan, who came later, along with evidence. The chief minister is aware of the fraud in Payyannur.

The communist party had a system of going together to collect funds. The area secretary changed that system, brought the system of going alone and collecting funds. This system helped in embezzling the funds. Lakhs of rupees were diverted from the election campaign funds. More than a crore was embezzled from three funds. Convinced the party about the fraud by making fake receipts along with evidence. However, the party took action against me, who had complained,' revealed V Kunhikrishnan. His revelation was in an interview given to a private channel.