Kerala: Congress marches to CPI(M) MP's office demanding resignation over bank scam allegations

Thrissur (Kerala): Congress workers on Thursday held a march towards the office of CPI(M) MP K Radhakrishnan, demanding his resignation after he was named by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as an accused in the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam case.

Several Congress workers marched towards the Alathur MP's office at Chelakkara, raising slogans against him and the ruling CPI(M).

As the protesters tried to breach the barricades erected to stop them, the police used water cannons to disperse them.

On 26 May, the ED named the CPI(M) Thrissur district committee and several party workers and leaders as accused in a fresh charge sheet filed in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank "scam" case.

The ED has named a total of 28 entities and individuals in its first supplementary charge sheet filed in this case. Those arraigned include the CPI(M) Thrissur district committee, party MP Radhakrishnan, MLA A C Moideen, and others.

With this charge sheet, the total number of accused in the case has risen to around 83, according to sources. There were 55 accused in the first charge sheet filed in 2023.

The money laundering probe stems from at least 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police Crime Branch in Thrissur in July 2021, regarding alleged financial irregularities in the CPI(M)-controlled bank, amounting to Rs 150 crore.

The agency has claimed that the total proceeds of crime in this case amount to about Rs 300 crore, sources said.