In what has become fresh trouble amid being surfaced with controversies, Kerala BJP state president K Surendran has been summoned by the state police for questioning on the highway heist case in which the state unit of the Central ruling party was accused of having hawala connections. 

Surendran has been running through controversies from bribing the opposition candidates in the recently-held state assembly polls to hawala money transactions. The state BJP unit is facing the charges of using 'hawala' money in the assembly poll that was held on April 6. The charges were based on the complaint from Shamjeer Samsudheen. According to the complaint lodged on April 7, a gang had stopped Samsudheen's car on the Kodakara flyover in Thrissur and looted Rs 25 lakh kept in the vehicle when he was on his way to Kochi from Kozhikode. 

Though the complaint had said only Rs 25 lakh were looted, the investigators had later found that the actual amount could be about Rs 3.5 crore. The investigating agency in Kerala has also said that the money was intended for BJP and it was hawala money transported from Bengaluru. The incident of looting had happened on April 3, three days ahead of the assembly polls. 

It was then reported that Rs 3.5 crore was transported from Bengaluru to Kozhikode on the directives of BJP's Kerala Secretary Gireeshan Nair and state organizing secretary Ganesh. However, the complaint Shamjeer Shamsudeen had moved to the Thrissur court alleging that the money as well as the car had belonged to him and the money was being transported for business purposes. The complainant had asked the court to return the money. 

However, the police had obtained evidence that the money was transported as per the instructions of BJP President Surendran. The police had so far arrested 21 people in the case. The law enforcement agency had now summoned Surendran for questioning in the case of hawala connections. According to reports, the police had shocked the BJP Chief on Friday by serving him the notice, directing asking him to appear before the probing team in Thrissur on July 6- Tuesday. 

The police had served the notice at Surendran's residence in Kozhikode. However, he was not at his residence. The development has invited trouble for Surendran amid facing outrage in the state. While the police had directed Surendran to appear for questioning, the BJP had alleged that the state ruling CPI(M) has been targeting the party and its president by using its power. Taking to social media, the Central ruling party said, "The BJP will not allow Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the ruling Left to hunt down Surendran." 

The saffron party has said accused the Pinarayi Vijayan- government of playing the politics of revenge against it in connection with the highway heist. The BJP has said that instead of arresting the robbers, the police are looking at how the case can be linked to the BJP.  According to reports, the hawala case has also been probed by the Income Tax department, Election Commission, and Enforcement Directorate along with the Kerala police. The BJP has also formed a three-member panel to probe the case and submit a report on the case.