MALAPPURAM: A CPM Mankada Area Committee member and DYFI leader has been suspended from service by the Perinthalmanna Urban Bank after he was found to have misappropriated a widow’s pension by forging her signature.
K.T. Naufal, an employee of the bank’s Moorkanad branch, collected pension payments totalling Rs 20,000 meant for a housewife from Moorkanad over a 10-month period from November to August. The alleged fraud came to light when bank records were examined following repeated complaints from the woman that she had not received her pension.
The woman had reportedly been told that the pension had not been sanctioned by the panchayat. The records later revealed that the payments had been collected using a forged signature. Naufal subsequently returned Rs 18,000 of the misappropriated amount.
The woman then approached the Kolathur police, which launched an investigation into the alleged fraud. The bank suspended Naufal after the police probe was initiated.
The CPM has also taken disciplinary action against Naufal, expelling him from the party for one year.
Naufal had previously been involved in protests against the discontinuation of pension distribution through cooperative bank employees. He had led a CPM protest outside the Moorkanad panchayat office opposing the decision.