A case was registered against Kerala BJP chief K Surendran on Thursday for allegedly bribing tribal leader andJanadhipathya Rashtreeya Party (JRP) president C K Janu to contest as an NDA candidate in the April 6 assembly elections.
The development comes a day after a court here directed the police to register the case against Surendran over bribery allegations.
The FIR was filed under Sections 171 E (bribery) and 171 F (Punishment for undue influence or personation at an election), police said.
Recently, the audio clips of the purported conversation between Surendran and JRP leader Praseetha Azhikode on paying the amount to Janu had gone viral on social media.
Though Surendran and his party had denied the charges, the court has, prima-facie, been convinced about the veracity of the tapes.
Earlier, on June 7, a similar case was registered against the BJP state president for allegedly threatening and bribing K Sundara, a namesake candidate who had filed nomination papers in the recent assembly polls from Manjeswaram assembly segment, to withdraw his candidature.
Sundara, who filed his nomination as BSP candidate, had recently disclosed to the police that he was initially threatened and later given Rs 2.5 lakh as bribe by the saffron party to withdraw from the contest.
