The march, led by Suresh Gopi, who is a former Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP, was flagged off by the party's state president K Surendran.
Published Oct 03, 2023 | 12:16 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 03, 2023 | 12:16 PM
Suresh Gopi. (TheSureshGopi/ X)
Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, on Monday, 2 October, staged a “Sahakari Samrakshana Yatra” from Karuvannur to Thrissur in protest against the ₹150 crore Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam in the state.
The march, led by BJP leader Suresh Gopi, who is a former Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP, was flagged off by the party’s state president K Surendran.
Reacting to the protest march, VN Vasavan, CPI(M) leader and Minister for Co-operation and Registration in Kerala, alleged that the current protest by the BJP is a “political ploy” in view of the upcoming Parliament elections.
Addressing BJP party workers at Karuvannur, Gopi said, “This march is to strengthen the cooperative sector in the country. We will organise such protest marches towards Kannur, Mavelikkara, Malappuram, and other places where there are such issues.”
The CPI(M) had earlier alleged that the ED action in the Karuvannur Bank scam and the protest by the actor was a political game by the BJP to prepare the ground for Gopi to contest from Thrissur in the Lok Sabha polls.
“This is an issue that came up three years ago and, now, they are protesting. This is just a political ploy eyeing the upcoming Parliament polls,” Vasavan said, reacting to the protest march.
Surendran, however, in a press meet on Monday, denied the allegation and said that BJP will be organising such protests across the state.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier arrested three people, including a CPI(M) local leader, in connection with the alleged issuance of “benami” loans from Karuvannur Bank.
The case relates to the alleged fraud in the CPI(M)-controlled Karuvannur Cooperative Bank.
The ED has been questioning some people involved in the case since it conducted raids on their properties in August. On 11 September, CPI(M) leader and MLA AC Moideen was interrogated for over nine hours.
The ED had claimed its probe found that “on the instructions of certain persons, who were district-level leaders and committee members of a certain political party and governed the bank, loans were disbursed by the bank manager through the agent in cash to non-member benamis by mortgaging properties of poor members without their knowledge and laundered to the benefit of the accused”.
“Many such benami loans were disbursed on the instructions of AC Moideen,” the ED had alleged in a statement issued on 23 August, a day after the raids were carried out.
The case of alleged fraud, beginning in 2010, in the Thrissur-based bank triggered a political row in Kerala two years ago. The money laundering case related to it stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (Crime Branch) in Thrissur.
The ED had carried out similar raids in August last year at six locations, including a branch of the bank located in Irinjalakuda, Thrissur. It had attached assets worth ₹30.70 crore of a commission agent of the bank, Bijoy AK.
After the Kerala Police registered the FIR in July 2021, the registrar in the audit of the bank found “diversions” of more than ₹100 crore, the ED said last year.
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