Thrissur: Sindhu A V (50), who was robbed of Rs 35 lakh allegedly by Satheesh Kumar P -- the main accused in the Karuvannur bank scam -- has approached the Directorate of Enforcement seeking an investigation into Kerala Bank.
She has accused the Kerala Bank or Kerala State Co-operative Bank Limited's Medical College Evening Branch at Peringandoor of conniving with Satheesh to rob her in a scam popularly known as 'loan takeover'.
Satheesh had allegedly bought Sindhu's bad loan of Rs 19 lakh with Kerala Bank's Mundur branch in 2017 and then pledged the title deeds of her house and 32-cent plot again at the same bank's Medical College Evening Branch to take a loan of Rs 35 lakh. Instead of taking his money and returning the rest to Sindhu, Satheesh left the bank with the entire Rs 35 lakh, alleged Sindhu, a resident of Velappaya in Avanur grama panchayat.
Sindhu's debt has now ballooned to Rs 70 lakh. The bank has initiated the process to attach the 2,000 sqft house on a 32-cent plot that was pledged in the bank.
After Satheesh was arrested in the multi-crore scam, Sindhu approached the Medical College Police Station and filed a cheating case against him on Tuesday (October 3).
On Friday, she approached the ED in Kochi seeking an investigation into the Kerala Bank's Peringandoor branch. She told the ED that the loan amount of Rs 35 lakh was taken without her consent or knowledge. Her story was reported in detail on www.onmanorama.com on Thursday ( October 5).
She told the ED that Vijayan, Satheesh Kumar resorted to fraud, cheating, and illegal activities to rob the money from her at the bank. She told Onmanorama that Satheesh could not have got access to the money without the connivance of the bank employees.
On the instruction of Satheesh, Sindhu went to the evening branch at 11.30 am, half an hour before it was scheduled to open. There was only one employee. When he handed over the money to Sindhu in cash, Satheesh arrived at the branch and snatched it from her. "Their acts have created a huge liability of Rs 70 lakh on me and currently we are facing attachment proceedings," she told the ED in her complaint and urged the central agency to investigate the fraudulent and deceitful activities of Satheesh and his accomplices, and also into the cases of misappropriation, corruption and other major irregularities at the Kerala Bank's evening branch at Peringandoor.
After Satheesh Kumar's arrest in the Karuvannur bank scam, several victims of his 'loan takeover' robbery have come forward with their experiences. Congress leader and former MLA Anil Akkara, who is coordinating with the victims, alleged that Satheesh had taken over the bad loans of around 150 persons and re-pledged their properties at other cooperative banks for bigger loans and taken home the entire amounts. "At least 14 cooperative banks are involved in the scam which has pushed the victims into debt traps," he told Onmanorama.
