Muvattupuzha: CPM state committee member Gopi Kottamurikkal has resigned as the president of the Muvattupuzha Urban Cooperative Bank following the controversy over the attachment of a house for default in loan repayment.

The bank's attachment move triggered a controversy after it evicted two minor Dalit girls, when their parents were in a hospital.

The bank's board of directors have decided to place under suspension deputy general manager M A Shanty and Pezhakkappilly branch manager K K Sajeevan. A three-member committee was also constituted to probe the attachment issue.

Earlier, the bank's chief executive officer Jose K Peter submitted his resignation after Minister for Cooperation V N Vasavan ordered action against those officials who had erred in following the government policy on attachments.

After submitting his resignation, Gopi Kottamurikkal said he decided to step down since he has been continuing as the president of the Kerala Bank. He would, however, continue as a board member of the Muvattupuzha Urban Cooperative Bank.

The bank initiated the attachment proceedings when the loan defaulter, V A Ajesh Kumar was undergoing treatment for a heart ailment. His wife was with him in the hospital when the bank evicted their twin daughters as part of the attachment move on April 2.

Ajesh had availed a loan of Rs 1 lakh from the Pezhakkappilly branch of the bank.

On learning about the eviction of the girls, Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan and his party colleagues reached the house at night, and broke open the bank-sealed lock to let the minor sisters in. He also vowed to repay Kumar's loan.

The incident grabbed headlines after Kuzhalnadan's intervention, and members of a pro-Left bank employees union pooled in the money and repaid the loan. Kumar and family, however, refused their help.

They demanded the bank to accept the cheque the Congress MLA had handed over to them, and return them the title deed of their property that was submitted as security.

Though the bank had accepted the cheque, it has not been encashed. The financial institution cannot accept additional repayment since the bank employees' union had already closed Kumar's loan.

The resignations and suspension came at a time when Kumar has been planning to move a court, seeking a directive to the bank to allow him to close the loan.