Ten individuals accused in the Pulppalli Co-operative Bank loan fraud have been granted bail following an investigation sparked by the suicide of a farmer. Among the accused were bank secretary KT Remadevi and director board member Sujatha Dileep, who received bail from the Vigilance Court in Thalassery. This decision means that all ten individuals accused of the fraud have now been granted bail.
The accused include KK Abraham, former bank director board president and former general secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, as well as P U Thomas, the head of the co-operative bank loan division. Also among the accused are bank directors T S Kurian, Mani Pambanal, Bindu Chandran, CV Velayudhan, and VM Poulose, along with middleman Sajeevan Kollappalli. It is worth noting that all of the accused were already on bail in connection with another case registered by the Pulppalli police regarding the fraud.
Of the accused, Sajeevan Kollappalli is currently in custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) due to his failure to account for the flow of funds into his account. He was arrested on September 26 as part of an ongoing investigation by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-2002. The case will be considered by the Vigilance Court on February 9.
While there had been numerous complaints against the bank prior to this, the fraud came into the media spotlight following the suicide of farmer Rajendran Nair at Pulppalli. Nair took the drastic step on May 30 as his complaints about the fraud were reportedly ignored by the bank authorities. Despite only taking a loan of Rs 80,000, according to bank records, Nair had pledged his land in the bank for Rs 25 lakh. The remaining money was allegedly embezzled by the accused and their accomplices, as per the police’s claims. In another incident, farmer KP Daniel had taken a loan of Rs 2 lakh from the bank in 2018, pledging 63 cents of land owned separately by himself and his wife Sarahkutti. Shockingly, Daniel received a notice from the bank demanding Rs 36 lakh repayment as he had allegedly failed to make timely payments.
The investigation into the loan fraud at Pulppalli Co-operative Bank has been ongoing, with the recent grant of bail to the ten accused individuals being just one development. As the case proceeds, more details are likely to emerge, shedding light on the extent of the fraud and the involvement of all the accused parties. Meanwhile, the victims of the fraud and the families affected by the suicides of farmers like Rajendran Nair continue to seek justice and accountability for their losses. The outcome of the Vigilance Court hearing on February 9 may provide further insight into the legal proceedings surrounding the case.
