Probe into Vanchinadu Bhavana Nirmana Sahakarana Sangham financial fraud handed over to economic offences wing

Thiruvananthapuram: The probe into the financial irregularities surrounding Vanchinadu Bhavana Nirmana Sahakarana Sangham has been handed over to the economic offences wing (EOW) of the crime branch.

Sangham president Kaladi Vijayakumar, vice-president Prakash, secretary Sreekala, manager Gopakumar and other staff and executive committee members are named accused in the financial fraud.

Police have so far registered 77 cases against the accused. "As many as 72 cases were transferred to EOW and the remaining cases will also be transferred in the coming days," said Vanchiyoor police.

For transferring a case to EOW, an irregularity to the tune of Rs 3 crore must occur and a scam worth Rs 54 crore was unearthed during the preliminary probe conducted by the cooperative department. "We are verifying the documents. The accused are absconding and the search is on for them," said the probe team.

The cases were registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318 (4) for cheating, 316 for criminal breach of trust and 316 (2) for criminal breach of trust by a public servant. Police also said that the number of cases may increase in the coming days as the accused have allegedly cheated over 1,500 depositors.

Recently, police have registered two more cases on the complaints of a 68-year-old Sreevaraham-based woman and another woman residing at Kowdiar. The Sreevaraham native deposited Rs 7.5 lakh in 2017 and the Kowdiar native deposited Rs 5.7 lakh in 2015. They received interest until Jan 2024. They said in their complaints that when they tried to withdraw their deposits, the sangham denied them the money.