THRISSUR: The protest by the family of a deceased woman outside the scam-hit Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank by displaying her body turned into a slugfest with Minister R Bindu on Thursday terming it “political” and that it should be “condemned”. The family reacted sharply saying they have no political inclinations and that they only wanted the other depositors to not face a similar situation in the future.“The entire act showed disrespect to the body of a dead person,” the minister said.
Philomina, 70, of Mapranam, who has been ailing for some time, died on Wednesday at the Thrissur Medical College Hospital. Her husband Devassy, 80, along with their son Dinu had staged a protest with the coffin in front of the CPM-controlled bank, following her death.
Philomina, who had been under treatment for rheumatoid arthritis for the past one month in Thrissur MCH, died after a cardiac arrest. Devassy alleged that the Karuvannur bank authorities had refused to return him the deposited money for taking Philomina to a speciality hospital. Devassy and Philomina had deposited `28 lakh in the cooperative bank.
Responding to the issue, Bindu said on Thursday that the bank authorities had sanctioned some amount to Devassy recently and would have sanctioned more money again had the family approached it stating the exact purpose. “We all are unhappy with the situation. But the cooperative department has already initiated action to resolve the crisis in Karuvannur bank. Depositors need not worry about their money as they all will get it back,” she said. Bindu also alleged that were political interventions by some groups of people with a vested interest that hindered the move to form a consortium of cooperative banks to extend support to Karuvannur bank.