The custodial death of private financier Raj Kumar at Nedumkandam has brought to fore the rising police brutality in Kerala. Express Principal Correspondent Abhilash Chandran travels to the region to probe the murky behind-the-scenes activities in the private financing business to find if there is more to the incident than meets the eye
KOTTAYAM: Mystery still shrouds Thookkupalam, a sleepy hamlet near Nedumkandam in Idukki bordering Tamil Nadu, after Raj Kumar, 53, was allegedly tortured to death by some police personnel at the Nedumkandam police station. Even as the Crime Branch investigation into the custodial death is underway, Raj Kumar, who opened Haritha Finance money lending firm in Thookkupalam, continues to remain an enigma to locals.
Raj Kumar, who was called ‘sir’ by people, is no more, but the mystery he left behind continues. A resident of ‘Kasthuri’, Kolahalamed, Vagamon, the deceased along with his aide Salini of ‘Manjappallil’, Elappara - the managing director of the finance company - had swindled several hundred people in Nedumkandam, Udumbanchola and Pampadumpara panchayats. But no one knows where the huge stash of money has gone, who are the big sharks behind the fraud and why indeed Raj Kumar was done to death.
Haritha finance -an outright fraud
It was in early March that Raj Kumar arrived at Thookkupalam with a finance scheme. In the beginning, his company did not have a name or office. He chose Thookkupalam to start his finance scheme as Salini, whom he knew, had been based at Thookkupalam for a while. .The duo chose joint liability groups (JLGs) under the Kudumbashree to execute their plan. And the pair offered loans to JLGs at two per cent monthly interest. To avail themselves of the loan, each beneficiary had to pay Rs 1, 000 as processing fees for a Rs one lakh loan, with the processing fee increasing correspondingly with the loan amount.
Manju of Thookkupalam, the company’s manager, said, “I got acquainted with Salini through a common friend and I paid Rs 4,000 for a loan amount of Rs 4 lakh by mid-March. “I joined as manager on May 2, while others were given various jobs,” she said. Later, Manju’s husband Ajikumar became Raj Kumar’s driver.Raj Kumar did not directly collect money from the public, but deputed Salini and Manju instead. “Raj Kumar checked the daily collection report and carried the amount to Kumily, reportedly for handing over the amount to Raju. He also mentioned the name of advocate Nazar and police officer Shukkur, who he claimed were his bosses,” said Ajikumar.
Magnitude of fraud unknown
Haritha Finance collected processing fees from as many as 150 JLGs and around 120 individuals, according to the police intelligence wing. “We have no specific data on the fraud’s magnitude. Eighty-five complaints were received already. However, many of them do not have proof since Raj Kumar didn’t issue receipts,” said a police officer. Nonetheless, some persons said documents seized from a Haritha Finance staffer revealed a fraud to the tune of Rs 1.90 crore. However, police failed to confirm this.
“People from various panchayats, including majority of the members of Nedumkandam grama panchayat council, especially women, had paid processing fee,” said Alice Thomas, a member, who paid Rs 5,000. There are unconfirmed reports of individuals having paid upto Rs 50,000, hoping to avail themselves of a loan of upto Rs 50 lakh.
Investors’ protest and arrest
Though Haritha Finance started collecting processing fee from mid-March, none of the several hundred people got the promised loan. When the waiting period for the loan became interminable, some of them approached the police. Investors laid siege to Raj Kumar and Salini’s rented house in the early hours of June 12. Meanwhile, Raj Kumar disclosed he had credited Rs 4.6 crore in an account at the Idukki District Cooperative Bank (IDCB)Kuttikkanam branch and he promised to pay back the money to everyone. When the investors along with Salini, Manju and Ajikumar reached Kuttikkanam in three vehicles to withdraw the money, they found there was no money in Raj Kumar’s account. Irked at this, the people beat up Raj Kumar on the way back and handed him over to Nedumkandam police at Puliyanmala.
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