Police raid over black money: KSU leader seen carrying trolley bag into Palakkad hotel

Palakkad (Kerala), Nov 6 (PTI) Amid protests by Congress over a midnight police operation at a hotel in Palakkad, which is heading for an assembly by-election, CCTV footage showing a leader of the party's student wing, KSU, arriving at the hotel with a blue trolley bag was broadcast by the media.

This prompted the CPI(M) to accuse him of carrying black money intended to influence the election.

The visuals showed the Kerala Students Union (KSU) leader arriving at the hotel with the blue trolley bag, with the Congress candidate and top leaders of the party in the district, including V K Sreekandan and Shafi Parambil--both Members of Parliament--moving alongside the student leader.

Congress candidate Rahul Mamkootathil claimed that the bag brought by the KSU leader contained clothes.

"The trolley bag contained my clothes. They (CPI(M) and BJP) need to prove that the trolley bag contained money. I will give it up for forensic examination by the police. Let them examine it and find out what was kept in it.

"If you check CCTV footage of when CPI(M) leaders arrived at the hotel, they too would be seen carrying trolley bags," he said.

CPI(M) district secretary E N Sureshbabu lodged a complaint with the district police chief, alleging that the blue trolley bag contained black money.

Around midnight, the police conducted searches, including in the hotel rooms where prominent women politicians from the Congress, such as Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman, were staying.

While the Congress alleged that it was a "midnight police drama" jointly orchestrated by the BJP and the CPI(M) due to their fear of a potential poll debacle, the Marxist party and the saffron party rejected the allegations and accused the grand old party of "distributing" large amounts of black money to secure a victory in the crucial by-election.

According to the police, searches are being conducted in hotels and lodges in the constituency to prevent malpractice during the November 20 by-election and the raid at the hotel was part of that operation. PTI TGB HMP KH