THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police took the statement of Deshabhimani former associate editor G Sakthidharan in the reeds mat controversy. The statement was taken by a team led by Cantonment ACP. However, Sakthidharan said that everything that has to be said has been mentioned in the Facebook post and has nothing more to say.

Sakthidharan's Facebook post said that a CPM leader smuggled money after wrapping them in reed mats. Following the complaint of Benny Behnan MP, the police recorded Sakthidharan's statement. However, Sakthidharan failed to reply on questions as who, where and when the money was transferred. He also did not reveal the names of those indirectly mentioned in Facebook. The police will decide whether to file a case after the preliminary investigation.

In a Facebook post, Sakthidharan alleged that he was a witness to CPM's top leader spending two days at the Deshabhimani office in Kalur and counted the Rs 2.5 core accepted and that the money was taken in reed mats to Thiruvananthapuram in an Innova Car. He said that a present minister was also in the car.