The federal agency had conducted raids in the case early this month after which he was expelled by the Leftist party.
Kandala Service Cooperative Bank. (Facebook)
Expelled Kerala CPI leader N Bhasurangan and his son Akhiljith were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged cooperative bank fraud case, official sources said.
The two were taken into custody on Tuesday, 21 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following questioning at the agency’s office in the Kandala Services Cooperative Bank alleged fraud case.
The federal agency had conducted raids in the case early this month after which, Bhasurangan, a local CPI leader, was expelled by the Left party.
It is suspected by the ED that funds to the tune of more than ₹100 crore were allegedly siphoned off from the bank when Bhasurangan was at the helm of affairs at the cooperative lender.
Malpractices amounting to ₹101 crore were detected by the Department of Cooperation in Kerala at the Kandala Service Cooperative Bank. Following the misdoings the now owes its depositors around ₹103 crore along with an outstanding loan payment of ₹69 crore.
The ED raided the bank and residences of former bank secretaries on Wednesday in association with the loan fraud case. Raids were held at the houses of former secretaries Shantakumari Rajendran and Mohan Chandran, as well as the residence of a collection agent, Ani.
Earlier, when the allegations against Bhasurangan surfaced and the ED named him in the fraud case, CPI expelled him from the party.
The party alleged that Bhasurangan’s close association with top CPI and CPI(M) leaders helped him pull off the huge fraud. There are also allegations that he made monthly payments to these leaders in exchange for their alleged cooperation in the matter.
Bhasurangan was also removed from the position of Convenor of the Administrative Committee of the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) — Milma.
His removal from Milma was announced by the state Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Milk Co-operatives, J Chinchu Rani.
(With PTI inputs)
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