Thiruvananthauram : Strict action will be taken against those involved in the BSNL Engineers Co-op Society fraud, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in the Assembly. The BSNL Engineers Society is located on Uppalam Road in Vanchiyoor. CM was replying to a submission made by Leader of the Opposition, VD Satheesan.
In the inspection carried out by the Registration department, there were found irregularities including investment fraud. The preliminary finding is that the amounts received as fixed deposits were entered into in fake registers and fake certificates were issued to depositors.
Based on findings submitted by the Registrar-appointed investigation team, a case with crime number 1266/2022 has been registered at the Vanchiyoor police station under sections 408, 409, 420, 477A and 34 of the IPC. The case followed a complaint lodged for alleged forgery and extortion.
In investigations so far, the fraud involves a total of Rs 92.73 crore. Also, findings incriminate the society’s president, honorary secretary and an employee of BSNL for their involvement. The investigations have now been handed to the Economic Offenses Investigation Department of the State Crime Branch. A special team comprising 13 persons including 2 DySPs and 3 Detective Inspectors headed by Crime Branch SP will look into the scam.
The investigating officer submitted report to the court and concerned authorities seeking to seeking to stop the any sale or purchase of properties owned by the accused persons. Also, cooperative and nationalised banks have been asked to freeze accounts these persons hold with them.
In a bid to recover sums scammed, the Co-operative department has provisionally attached 20 properties belonging to the Society president, an employee and their relatives. The investigation team has moved steps to track all movable and immovable properties belonging to the Society president, staff and managing committee members. The Cooperative Department seeks to recover embezzled sums from the properties of the accused and refund the investors.
Cooperatives is a very important economic sector pan Kerala. Even a slight irregularity or corruption in this sector will be viewed with grave concern and needful action taken, CM told the House.
