Thrissur: The victims of the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam are mostly the working class. Among the investors who were defrauded by the CPM-led governing council of the bank are housemaids and bed-ridden old people who badly need to retrieve the money for timely medical care and other expenses.
For instance, 57-year-old Sunitha, an unmarried housemaid, had saved Rs 1.5 lakh by washing dishes and mopping floors in many houses. Unfortunately, all that money is now stuck with this bank.
Her father Vasu, aged 92, is bed-ridden. Her mother, Lakshmi, 83, is paralysed after suffering from a stroke. The family lives in a dilapidated house near the Porathisseri Health Centre at Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district.
“Rs 1 lakh that my poor father had earned by rearing a cow is also with the bank. Who knows whether we would get it back,” sighed Sunitha, looking at her father who cannot even get up from the bed.
Besides Sunitha, Vasu and Lakshmi had a son too. After he died Sunitha is their only resort.
After the news of discrepancies at the bank came out, Sunitha had rushed to get back her hard-earned money deposited there. She stood in the queue for hours together and could get only Rs 2,000.
Last year the bank grabbed headlines after several borrowers received recovery notices for amounts greater than they had borrowed. The borrowers approached the Registrar of Cooperatives and a probe unearthed a multi-crore scam. The irregularities at the bank are pegged at Rs 300 crore, but the government estimates it to be only Rs 150 crore.
The bank is now run by an administrator after its director board was dissolved last year. A Crime Branch probe is on.
