THRISSUR: None of the BJP leaders will be arraigned in the Kodakara hawala case. The investigation team will take a decision later whether to make leaders including K Surendran as witnesses. The charge sheet in the case will be filed on July 24. The charge sheet will be filed before the Irinjalakuda court. There are a total of 22 accused in the case.

The main demand in the charge sheet is that the case be investigated by a central agency. The charge sheet will include the statements of the BJP leaders. The police have so far questioned 19 BJP leaders in the case.

Surendran appeared before the investigation team on Wednesday. He was released after a three-hour interrogation. The team said it is difficult to find the full robbed amount. The team has not received anything to prove that this money came for election purposes.

No statement has been received from BJP leaders regarding the source of the money. So, it has been decided to file the charge sheet considering it as a robbery case only. Just before the election on April 3, a criminal gang looted Rs 3.5 crore on the Kodakara National Highway. A sum of Rs one crore 45 lakh was recovered in the case where 22 people were arrested. However, the investigation team don’t know how to find the remaining money.

The investigation team had initially said the money was brought for the BJP. It should be noted that the police are completely ending the political dimension of the case. This will lead to a new political controversy. The UDF is likely to use it politically, alleging CPM-BJP collusion.