In connection with a money heist in Kodakara, police have summoned K Surendran.

Kerala: Police served a summons on BJP Kerala chief K Surendran on Friday, summoning him to appear before a team investigating the highway heist case in Kodakara, in which allegations of “hawala” connections were levelled against the party’s state leadership.

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According to sources, the police served him with a summons at his home in Kozhikode district, requesting that he appear before the investigation team in Thrissur on Tuesday. According to the police, Surendran was not at home when they arrived.

The BJP claimed that the ruling CPI(M) was targeting the party and its president with its power.

“The BJP will not allow Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the ruling Left to pursue Surendran,” the party stated on Facebook.

The BJP in Kerala, which is facing charges of using “hawala” money in the state’s Assembly elections on April 6, has accused the state’s CPI(M)-led LDF government of engaging in “politics of revenge” against it in connection with the highway heist.

According to the saffron party, instead of checking the call lists of the accused in the heist case, the police went through the call list of the complainant in the case.

Instead of apprehending the robbers and recovering the money, the police are investigating how the case can be linked to the BJP, as the person who lost the money allegedly assisted the party in its election campaign.

According to a complaint filed on April 7 by Shamjeer Samsudheen, a gang stopped his car on the Kodakara flyover here and looted Rs 25 lakh while he was on his way to Kochi from Kozhikode.

Though the complaint stated that only Rs 25 lakh was stolen, investigators later discovered that the actual amount could be around Rs 3.5 crore and that the transaction was a ‘hawala’ transaction.

In connection with the case, police have arrested 21 people.