Bhasurangan and son involved in Rs 101 crore fraud; ED seizes documents regarding irregularities, Bhasurangan expelled from CPI, Milma

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is assessing that fraud of Rs 101 crores took place in the Kandala Cooperative Bank, seized several documents during the 40-hour-long raids conducted at the houses of those including former bank president N Bhasurangan. The agency also took Bhasurangan's son Akhiljith into custody and took him to Kochi. His arrest may be recorded on Friday. ED hints that he is also involved in the fraud.

The inspections started on Wednesday morning, including at the bank. After ED officials took Bhasurangan into custody, he was expelled from the CPI and from the post of administrative panel convener of the Milma union. Milma also took back the Innova car given to Bhasurangan. Meanwhile, Bhasurangan fell ill during interrogation and was admitted to the ICU of a private hospital.

ED officials examined bank deposits, loans, collaterals for loans etc. According to sources, documents containing irregularities have been seized by officials. Along with records of deposits in the names of their family members, the officials also took four phones belonging to Bhasurangan and Akhil. The officials took Akhiljith to bank branches and collected evidence. The documents of his luxury car were also seized.

When the officials went to examine the lockers at the Maranalloor branch, the keys were found to be missing. Later, a man was brought from outside and the locker was opened in Akhil's presence. ED suspects that the accused had shifted the documents in the locker from the bank. More ED officials arrived yesterday from Kochi and Mumbai.

The raids were conducted at the houses of former bank secretaries S. Shanthakumari, M. Rajendran, K. Mohanachandrakumar, manager S. Sreegar and appraiser K. Anilkumar and two houses of Bhasurangan. Bhasurangan joined the CPI from the Congress in 2006 when he was the president of the bank. With that, the bank administration came into the hands of the CPI. The governing body was dissolved when the fraud came to light. Even though 64 FIRs were registered regarding the fraud, the police did not conduct much investigation into the matter. With the BJP alleging that a minister and some senior ruling party leaders have received a share of the scam money, the ED may extend its probe in that direction as well.

Gave crores as loans without collateral
1. ED is conducting a probe into financial irregularities, black money and benami transactions under the leadership of Bhasurangan, who was the president of the bank for 30 years.
2. Crores were lent without sufficient collateral to swindle the money. Many loans were given to family members using the same collateral
3. Officials will investigate how the accused built hotels, supermarkets, houses and purchased luxury cars using swindled money