Kakkanad, Kochi: The Crime Branch has arrested a CPM leader for the misappropriation of the flood relief fund. About Rs 13 lakh was siphoned off from the disaster fund, even when more than 50,000 people in the state are awaiting the government aid.
Thrikkakara East local committee member N N Nidhin, 33, and wife Shintu, 29, were arrested on Wednesday. Another accused M M Anwar, who is also from the same committee, is absconding.
Vishnuprasad, a section clerk with the disaster relief fund wing of the Collectorate and an NGO union member, was arrested on Monday. Another accused, Kollam native B Mahesh, is said to have surrendered before the police on Wednesday night.
The accused reportedly diverted Rs 10,54,000 from the Collectorate's relief fund account to Ayyanad cooperative bank and Rs 2,50,000 to the Kakkanad branch of the Dena Bank and withdrew the money.
It was found that Anwar withdrew the money from the Ayyanad cooperative bank, ruled by the CPM, without submitting adequate proof.
Rs 10.54 lakh reached the Ayyanad bank via district treasury over five transactions
Anwar had withdrawn Rs 2.5 lakh from the Ayyanad bank on November 20, 2019. The Ayyanad bank was not informed in advance that this money was for Anwar. When Anwar reached the cooperative bank with the UTR number of the treasury transaction, the secretary was not ready to hand over the money to him. Then the CPM leaders of the administration council allegedly pressurised the secretary to give the money to Anwar.
On January 21 and 24, money reached the Ayyanad bank from the treasury in three transactions. And Anwar turned up to claim the amounts of Rs 2.5 lakh, 1.25 lakh and 1.79 lakh. The CPM leaders in the administration council again pressurised the secretary, but he grew suspicious and did not hand over the money to Anwar.
With suspicions raised over the mysterious money transactions, the bank authorities informed Collector S Suhas. Based on the Collector's order, district finance officer G Harikumar led the investigation and the scam was unearthed. The district administration filed a complaint to the police. A case was filed and Crime Branch took over the probe.
The investigation revealed that clerk Vishnuprasad misused the user ID and password of the admin account of the Ernakulam ADM at the district treasury. The accounts of CPM local committee members M M Anwar, N N Nidhin and wife were used for the fraud. They withdrew the money and handed it over to Mahesh, who in turn gave it to Vishnu.
All the accused is believed to have got their share. Both Anwar and Nidhin have been suspended by the Thrikkakara east local committee, and the decision was approved by the CPM district secretariat.
50,000 people await aid
Thiruvananthapuram: About 50,000 people are yet to get the compensation approved by the government after the last year's floods due to technical issues.
Around 3,04,000 people were allotted the emergency aid of Rs 10,000 each, as per the government figures. However, the money bounced from the accounts of 38,000 people. The flaw in the details given, including the account number, caused this amount to bounce. The details of 8,000 people were corrected and the money was deposited again.
The aid for damaged houses was approved for 49,900 people. But the money bounced from 18,000 accounts. Most of these accounts are Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The maximum money that can be deposited in these accounts is Rs 50,000. Those with damaged houses were allotted more money than this.
