Thrissur : Dharmaraj, the havala case culprit strived for to be protected by several quarters including BJP state leadership, has a history of imprisonment for trading in illicit liquor. In fact, there are several cases pending against him in Panniyenkkara Police Station in Bathery. Dharmaraj was behind bars for 70 days in one of the cases there until he managed to eke out a bail from the High Court later. sources, Dharmaraj is pretty widely known as a veteran abkari.
Investigators believe Dharmaraj is the main conspirator in the Kodakkara havala case although BJP leaders, right from the beginning, dub him as a victim-complainant hounded solely for his RSS background. According to persons familiar with the circle, Dharmaraj has functioned as dalal(middleman) in many of BJP’s deals running into hundreds of crores. Dharmaraj has to his name a sub-contract for Adani’s Vijizhinjam Port works – a deal in which, a contract of Rs . 3 crore was signed with Kozhikode-centric shell companies for purportedly reaching rocks and boulders to the construction site.
