THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Karamana police have arraigned former minister and Congress leader V S Sivakumar as an accused in the case registered in connection with the alleged scam in the District Unemployed Social Welfare Cooperative Society. He has been named as the third accused in the FIR registered on Saturday.
The first accused is M Rajendran, the president of the society, and the second accused is Neelakandan, the secretary of the society. The case was registered based on a complaint lodged by P Madhusoodanan Nair, of Venganoor, at the state police headquarters. As per the complainant, he had deposited `10 lakh in 2012, following the promise given by Sivakumar. The police said the complainant received interest on the deposit regularly until 2020. Since then, the society has neither paid any interest nor the deposit amount.
“The complaint was forwarded to us from the police headquarters. We have recorded the statement of the complainant. As per the complainant, he deposited the money in the society based on the recommendation of Sivakumar. We have registered a cheating case under Section 420 of the IPC, and we will also record the statement of Sivakumar soon,” said Sujith P S, Karamana inspector of police. The police headquarters had referred the complaint to the Karamana police, as the head office of the society is located at Killipalam.
The complainant, 58-year-old Madhusoodanan Nair, a Gulf returnee and a cancer patient, said that it was his hard-earned money, and that it was deposited in a relatively new society on Sivakumar’s recommendation. “When I was approached by the society, Sivakumar promised me that I would get good interest, and therefore it would lead to the growth of the society. I believed him and deposited the money. But now I feel cheated, and not only me, around 350 depositors are also bearing the brunt,” he said.
All depositors are from Vellayani, Killipalam, and Valiyathura. The society owes over Rs 13 crore to 350 depositors. The depositors allege that Sivakumar’s benami, Santhivila M Rajendran is keeping the funds.
Meanwhile,, Sivakumar told TNIE that he was not involved in the scam. “I am innocent. I never recommended anyone to deposit money in the society. In fact, I know the society president, Rajendran, as he was a Congress activist. So I inaugurated the society 16 years ago. This is only my connection with the society. It could be a politically motivated conspiracy to tarnish my image,” he said.