KOCHI: CPM leaders accused in the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank fraud case appeared before the Ernakulam PMLA Court on Saturday and secured bail. Eight accused, including former district secretaries A C Moideen, K Radhakrishnan, and M M Varghese appeared before the court.
The accused appeared as part of the pre-trial proceedings. Though the CPM Thrissur district committee has also been named as an accused, no representative appeared before the court. The court subsequently directed the CPM Thrissur district secretary to appear in person on July 21.
The court had, on June 7, issued summons to 28 people named in the supplementary chargesheet after observing that prima facie evidence existed against all the accused, including the party. Of the 28 accused, eight appeared before the court on Saturday, while the remaining accused have been directed to appear on July 21.
CPM leader and MP K Radhakrishnan told reporters that the objective behind registering the case was to weaken the party. He said they had been named as accused not because they had committed any wrongdoing, but because they were CPM members.