THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police department has formed an eight-member team to investigate the 2021 Kodakara hawala case further. Thrissur Range DIG Thomson Jose will monitor the probe, while Kochi Deputy Commissioner Sudarsan K S will head the team. Irinjalakkuda DySP V K Raju, who had headed the previous special investigation team, is the investigating officer.

A special police team had earlier approached the Irinjalakkuda Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court, seeking permission to conduct a further investigation into the case.

They had earlier recorded the statement of former BJP Thrissur district committee office secretary Thirur Satheesh, who had stirred a hornet’s nest by alleging that cash stolen from a car at Kodakara was part of hawala money received by state BJP leaders for election expenditure.

Satheesh had claimed that the hawala money, meant to cover BJP’s election expenses, was kept in six sacks at the party office. He said the money was received at the office the night before the Kodakara heist.

According to Satheesh, the key accused, Dharmarajan, had allegedly visited the party office when BJP state president K Surendran was also present.

The LDF government decided to conduct a further investigation into the 2021 case after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a meeting with State Police Chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb on Friday, in light of the fresh revelations by Satheesh.