Kerala HC displeased at tardy police investigation in Karuvannur Coop Bank case, hints at CBI probe

Kochi, April 10 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Thursday expressed its displeasure at the "callous attitude" of the Kerala Police's Crime Branch over its probe into the over Rs 300 crore Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank fraud case.

The court said that despite four years of the probe, not even a single charge sheet has been filed. If this is the manner in which things happen, then the CBI will have to be asked to come in to conduct the probe, it warned.

The court's stand came as it heard a plea seeking a CBI probe into the scam, as with top CPI-M leaders and the CPI-M allegedly involved in the crime, there has been no progress in the probe, and, hence, a CBI probe has to be announced.

The counsel for the Kerala government said they have not been able to get the documents to go forward with their probe as all those crucial documents have been taken away by the Enforcement Directorate who are also probing this scam.

As the counsel said that for perusing the transactions in the past decade, they will require three months' time, the court expressed its ire, saying that if things are like this, then the way out is for the CBI to take over.

The court then posted the case for Friday.

Two days back, the ED had questioned CPI-M MP and former state minister K. Radhakrishnan, as he was the party's Thrissur district Secretary when the alleged scam took place.

Among the other top CPI-M leaders who have already been questioned are senior legislator and former minister A.C. Moideen, former legislator M.K. Kannan and several other Thrissur district leaders.

Even though the ED probe is based on the FIR filed by Kerala Police, the agency is in the process of filing its final charge sheet anytime now.

According to the ED, loans from the co-operative bank were illegally sanctioned and disbursed to individuals and their benamis. The loans were granted through a systematic conspiracy involving the bank’s secretary, committee members, and the bank manager, all of whom were allegedly in collusion since 2010.

The investigation revealed that the Karuvannur bank sanctioned bogus loans on the same properties multiple times, often without the knowledge of the bank’s members.

In addition, loans were disbursed to non-members against inflated property valuations, with the funds subsequently siphoned off and laundered by the accused beneficiaries.

The disbursement of these loans was reportedly done at the behest of CPI-M District Committee members who controlled the bank's governing body.

The ED’s Kochi Zonal Office has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 10.98 crore in connection with the ongoing investigation into the case.

The attached assets include a movable property and 24 immovable properties, comprising land and buildings located in Kerala.

The immovable properties are valued at approximately Rs 10.48 crore, while the movable property, in the form of a cash deposit, is valued at Rs 50.53 lakh.

--IANS

sg/vd