THRISSUR: A notice has been sent to three BJP leaders stating that action will be taken if they do not appear before the probe team in the Kodakara hawala money case. The SIT has issued notices to BJP general secretary M Ganesh, state office secretary G Girish and Alappuzha district treasurer KG Kartha asking them to appear within two days.

The probe team had on Saturday telephoned the three to appear before it to gather information related to the case. They sought time to appear as they did not receive written notice. The notice was then sent. BJP Thrissur district general secretary KR Hari, treasurer Sujay Senan and BJP central secretary Kashinathan were summoned on Saturday to gather information about the case. Based on this, M Ganesh, G Girish and KG Kartha were asked to appear. A section of the investigation team based in Alappuzha is monitoring Kartha. It was alleged that Rs 3.5 crore was brought to be used for the Assembly elections. The car carrying the money was rammed by another vehicle in Kodakara after which the money was stolen. The incident took place on April 3. 19 accused were arrested in the case. About Rs 1 crore was recovered. Dharmarajan, the complainant, and former state treasurer of Yuva Morcha Sunil Naik were called in to gather information based on his revelations.

The probe team came to know that the money came from Karnataka. However, the BJP has received legal advice that the Kerala Police has no power to trace the source of the money and that it should be investigated by central agencies. Central agencies may be entrusted with the task of conducting joint investigations with other states.

Source should be probed

TN Mukundan, a native of Varantharappilly, Thrissur, lodged a complaint with the Financial Investigation Division seeking an inquiry into the source of the money in the incident. The complaint was lodged with Enforcement Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Kochi Zonal Joint Director Manish Godhra. The complaint says that money smuggling for election was a serious crime and that smuggling would destroy the country's economy. LJD youth wing state president Salim Madavoor had lodged a similar complaint with the ED but no action was taken.