Minister R Bindu has alleged political motive behind a depositor protesting with his wife's dead body before the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank that deprived them of their funds for treatment.

The other day, 80-year-old Devassy had protested with the dead body of his wife Philomena (70) before the bank that is embroiled in a multi-crore scam.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Minister Bindu criticised the manner of protest saying it was disrespectful toward the dead.

"The political parties who prompted them to protest with the dead body have done a terrible thing," said Bindu, who is a legislator from Irinjalakuda, where the incident took place.

"To exhibit a dead body in such a disrespectful manner is deplorable. It is sad that the patient died but to use it for political gains is not right."

The minister who claimed that the patient's family had received a sum for treatment said Philomena had the best available treatment. "There is no doubt the government medical college has the best facilities and that is where the patient was being treated," Bindu said.

The Minister reiterated that there were also political motives behind complaints raised with the Reserve Bank of India at a time the state government was in the process of setting up a consortium to help the Karuvannur Bank recover.