Seventy-year-old Philomena Devassy, died on July 27 Wednesday, at the Thrissur Medical College. Her family is heartbroken, as Philomena, a retired government nurse, had deposited her lifetime savings in a co-operative bank. But when the need arose to pay hospital bills, the Karuvannur cooperative bank controlled by CPI(M) functionaries, allegedly did not release any money from the 28 lakh savings that Philomena and her husband Devassy, an auto driver, had deposited over the years.
It was in 2019, that a Rs 100 crore fraud at the bank came to light. The Board members of the bank are local CPI(M) leaders, led by local CPI(M) leader KK Divakaran. The fraud that involved fake signatures, benami transactions and remortgaged properties, left several customers penniless. When the scam came to light, the CPI(M) had expelled four leaders who were allegedly involved in the fraud, while disciplinary action was taken against others. But bank customers like Philomena’s family, were left in the lurch.
Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu on Thursday had justified the bank saying they have given enough money for Philomena’s treatment. The minister also said that Philomena’s death was being used by political rivals for their vengeance.
But the family has strongly refuted the claim and said that they haven’t received the money. “We were not begging for help, we asked for our savings. How will the minister know how much we were in need of? I asked for money for better treatment for my wife,” Philomena’s husband Devassy told the media. Devassy has also said that they had pleaded with the bank to release money for the treatment, but the bank did not.
Philomena’s son Dino told the media that his mother was hospitalised on June 27 and the family did not receive any money from the bank despite asking many times. He also refuted CPI(M)’s claims that money had been paid to the family. “Money was given when I fell sick and was hospitalised, not for my mother. It is a lie,” he said.
Philomena’s is the second death related to the bank scam. The bank fraud was exposed when 63-year-old TM Mukundan, a former member of the Porathissery panchayat, died by suicide after receving a foreclosure notice for recovering amounts that he never borrowed.