KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering aspect in the Karuvanur Service Cooperative Bank loan scam, took CPM leader and Wadakkancherry municipal health standing committee chairman Aravindakshan PR into custody on Tuesday. Aravindakshan was taken into custody from Thrissur and brought to the ED office in Kochi.
Aravindakshan, 57, is a resident of Parlikkad in Wadakkancherry. He is the CPM Athani local committee member. Aravindakshan is also a close aide of former minister and CPM MLA AC Moideen.
According to the ED, Aravindkshan was associated with prime accused and money lender Satheeskumar who took loans from Karuvanur bank using benami borrowers. It was Aravindakshan who intermediated for Satheeshkumar to acquire documents of borrowers mortgaged at Karuvanur Bank for receiving the loan. In the report filed before the PMLA Special court in Kochi earlier, the ED had stated that Satheeshkumar was aided by Aravindakshan and another CPM Wadakkancherry counsellor named Madhu in the money lending business worth around Rs 500 crore.
"The loan defaulters were threatened by Satheeshkumar's goons and such acts have been intermediated by Aravindakshan and Madhu, both members of the CPM party," stated the report.
Karuvanur Service Cooperative Bank manager Biju MK also gave a statement to the ED against Aravindakshan. Biju MK deposed that he and his family were threatened by Aravindakshan and Madhu for depositing Rs 50 lakh in their name as a fixed deposit from the loan disbursed in cash to Satheeshkumar. The ED suspect that Aravindakshan is the link man between Satheeshkumar and AC Moideen.
The ED had interrogated Aravindakshan multiple times as part of the probe. Last week, Aravindakshan filed a complaint at Ernakulam Central Police Station that he was tortured by ED officials during the interrogation. Even though police conducted a preliminary probe into the complaint, a case is not yet registered.