Job in railways; Senior BJP leader embezzles crores, most victims are party members

IDUKKI: A BJP leader has been alleged of embezzling crores of money from various people after promising them jobs in the Indian railways. The accused leader, a native of Kattappana, is in-charge of the party’s central zone. According to a complaint, he had extorted Rs 6.5 lakh from 39 people. Following the incident, BJP Udumbanchola constituency president Radhakrishnan lodged a complaint with BJP state president K Surendran and organizational secretary A Ganesh.

From December last year, the leader started collecting money from constituency president Radhakrishnan's son and another BJP worker who was a neighbour. He extorted a sum of Rs 13 lakhs from them. In this way, the district leader took money from people involved in the party promising them jobs. He told us that we will get jobs after three months of paying the money, said the victims. A special interview was arranged for those who paid the money in Thrissur and Coimbatore. However, when they were not given jobs even after the said time, people suspected it to be a scam.

The scam came to light as the leader left without offering a clear answer in the regard. Following the complaint, BJP organizational secretary A Ganesh and joint organizational secretary Subhash arrived in Kattappana and conducted an investigation. The victims have decided to lodge a complaint with the police if the leader fails to return the money. The leader has been involved in various controversies before as well. He was then removed from the organization's responsibilities by the BJP leadership.