ED recovers land documents worth over Rs 20 crore

KOCHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) which raided nine places as part of a probe into the Karuvannur Bank scam has recovered land documents worth over Rs 20 crore. Apart from land documents, money and gold were recovered from nine places in Thrissur and Ernakulam districts.

The raid began on Monday and continued till Tuesday. In Thrissur, the raids were held at Thrissur Cooperative Bank, Ayyanthole Cooperative, Bank, real estate dealer Anil Kumar’s house, businessman Sunil Kumar’s ST Jewellery and the house of three document writers. In Ernakulam, the raid was conducted at the house of Deepak Sathayapalam, who is into hospitality business.

The ED issued a press release on the recoveries made during the raids conducted on Wednesday. ‘During the searches and survey operations, 800 grams of gold and Rs 5.5 lakh were seized from the residential premises of Sunil Kumar. From the residence of Anil kumar, five documents having a total value of Rs 15 crore were seized and from the residential premises of Deepak, 19 documents valued at Rs 5 crore were seized. The land details of 25 benami property deals made by Satheeshkumar have also been seized,” stated the press release.

ED has so far arrested Satheeshkumar and P P Kiran in the case. ED investigation revealed that it was on the instructions of district-level leaders of the CPM and the bank board members that loans were disbursed by the bank manager through agents in cash to non-members. Documents of properties that were mortgaged with the bank were used to issue fraudulent loans. The papers were also used for money laundering.

ASSAULT PLAINT: POLICE LAUNCH PRELIMINARY PROBE
Kochi: Ernakulam Central Police on Wednesday started a preliminary probe against ED officials probing the Karuvannur bank scam. The probe is being conducted based on the complaint of Wadakkancherry municipal health standing committee chairman and CPM councillor P R Aravindakshan who claimed that ED officials assaulted him during interrogation. As part of the preliminary probe, a team led by Ernakulam Central SHO Anish Joy visited the ED office in Kochi on Wednesday evening. The police officials apprised ED officials about the complaint. However, ED officials denied any torture.