The Kerala police arrested four of former board members of the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank in Thrissur, on Monday, September 13, in connection with the Rs 100 crore bank fraud. The arrested are former director board president KK Divakaran, who was recently expelled from the CPI(M) and board members TS Biju, Jose Chamkrampally and VK Lalithan. The bank fraud was exposed when 63-year-old TM Mukundan, a former member of the Porathissery panchayat, died by suicide after receiving a foreclosure notice for recovering amounts that he never borrowed. The fraud first came to light in 2019 when the joint registrar of cooperation (Thrissur) ordered a probe. While the probe was completed in October 2020, no action was taken.
The fraud was carried out using fake signatures, benami transactions and remortgaged properties, along with several customers receiving collection notices for amounts that they never borrowed.
Meanwhile the High Court will consider a petition from MV Suresh, a former bank employee from Thrissur demanding investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the case, reported the Hindu.
The Crime Branch team in August had arrested TR Sunilkumar, the key accused in the case and was on the lookout for the other accused in the case. Sunilkumar worked as a secretary of the bank for 21 years. The bank scam had hit headlines for the nature of the crime as well because the board members of the bank are local members of the CPI(M) that heads the ruling Left Democratic Front in the state. The CPI(M) had expelled four leaders who were allegedly involved in the fraud, while disciplinary action was taken against others. The CPI(M) had expelled Divakaran and Sunilkumar along with two other accused Biju Kurian and CK Jilse in July.