KOCHI: The police on Wednesday filed a chargesheet before the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court against the nine accused in the LIS Deepasthambham fraud case, wherein funds to the tune of `447.63 crore had been siphoned off. LIS managing trustee Kuriachan Chacko, partners Achamma Chacko
and Linu Joy, LIS Chairman P V Chacko, managers C G Reneesh, Vinod V Luka and Susheel Joseph, LIS Printers and Publishers partner Joy John and Mariya and Mariya Lottery Agency owner Nitha Kuriachan, who are the accused one to nine respectively.
The police had earlier filed the final report against seven accused in the case. After certain new revelations, further investigation was conducted, with the permission of the High Court.
After this, Joy John and Nitha Kuriachan were added as the eighth and ninth accused in the case. Both were witnesses in the case earlier.
The accused have been charged under IPC Section 403(misappropriation of property), Section 420 (cheating and dishon-
estly inducing delivery of property) and various sectionsof Prize Chits
and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. The police have excluded M V Paily from the list of the accused. According to the chargesheet, the accused used the chit fund to purchase land across the district.
LIS was functioning on a money-chain basis and gave false promises about doubling of the invested amount, according to the chargesheet.
The accused allegedly conducted their business under the guise of
dealing in government lottery tickets, with the clandestine intention to commit a huge financial fraud.