Former Bank Officials Accused of Siphoning Off ₹62.78 Crore

The economic offences wing of the crime branch (CB) in Thiruvananthapuram has been investigating the financial irregularities at the Nemom Service Cooperative Bank. As part of the probe, the team has already arrested two former bank officials - ex-secretary Balachandran Nair and former president Pradeep Kumar.

Now, the investigators have issued a lookout notice against another former secretary, A.R. Rajendran, 59, who is accused of siphoning off ₹31.63 crore from the bank. The inquiry also found that the other two former secretaries - Balachandran Nair and Sandhya S.S. - committed irregularities worth ₹20.75 crore and ₹10.40 crore, respectively.

The probe team says that the call details of Rajendran's family members, friends, and relatives have not yielded any results, leading to the issuance of the lookout notice. Arresting him is crucial to the ongoing investigation.

The inquiry has revealed that most of the loans were availed by the accused in benami names without any guarantee. In total, a fraud worth ₹100 crore has been reported at the bank. The bank also granted huge loans in the name of the accused's wife and children, flouting all norms.

Mujeeb Rehman, the patron of the forum of depositors, has expressed disappointment that the government has done nothing to resolve the issue. Some depositors have even ended their lives after losing all hope of getting their money back.