Two years after the Karuvannur Cooperative bank fraud first came to light, the CPI(M) in Kerala has finally decided to act against party leaders from Thrissur district, who were either involved in the Rs 100 crore fraud or failed to act on complaints that were received. The bank fraud, uncovered in Karuvannur Cooperative Bank in Thrissur district, involves faked signatures, benami transactions, remortaged properties and several people receiving notices for amounts they never borrowed. The CPI(M) Thrissur district secretariat and the district committee meetings held on July 25 and July 26 decided to expel and to take disciplinary action against party leaders and members.
The bank had board members from the party and local leader in Thrissur, KK Divakaran, was leading it. Divakaran was the bank's director and board president. The CPI(M) expelled Divakaran and three accused in the scam. He has been expelled for his failure in unearthing the fraud, The Hindu reported. The others expelled are former bank secretary and the party's Porathissery local committee member TR Sunil Kumar, former bank manager and party Karuvannur local committee member Biju Kurian and former accountant and party Thoduparamb branch member CK Jilse. CPI(M) acting state Secretary A Vijayaraghavan and state Secretariat member Baby John attended the meetings on July 25 and July 26.
The CPI(M) demoted Ullas Kalakkad and KR Vijaya, who is leader of All India Democratic Women's Association as well as opposition leader in the Irinjalakuda Muncipality in the district. Both were members of the district committee and have been demoted to the area committee. The CPI(M) also took action against CK Chandran, a former district secretariat member, and suspended him for one year apart from taking action against some other local leaders.
After the fraud first came to light, an investigation was sanctioned in August 2019 by the joint registrar of cooperation (Thrissur). According to reports, the probe was completed by October 2020, but no subsequent action had been taken. The fraud drew further attention earlier this week after TM Mukundan, a former panchayat member, died by suicide allegedly after receiving a foreclosure notice for recovering amounts he never borrowed. Mukundan had his savings at the bank, borrowed Rs 30 lakh a few years ago and revised his loan. However the bank, in a statement, said that Mukundan took two loans of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 30 lakh.