A court in Kuttanad, Kerala’s Rice Bowl in Alappuzha district, on Wednesday remanded a senior Christian priest in 14-day judicial custody in a number of cases pertaining to agricultural loan fraud.
The priest, Father Thomas Peelianikkal, executive director of the Kuttanad Vikasana Samithi (Kuttanad Development Council), an NGO, was remanded in judicial custody till July 4 by the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court in Ramankary, Kuttanad in connection with four cases of fraud related to agricultural bank loan.
He was arrested by the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police, which is probing these cases, from the council’s office in Ramankary on Tuesday. The Crime Branch is yet to arrest the other accused in the case, local NCP leader Rojo Joseph, his wife, Thresiamma, an employee at the office of the development council, and another person, Joseph.
Fr Peelianikkal and the others are accused of fraudulently availing agricultural loans from different banks in Alappuzha district by using forged documents in several people’s names by constituting self-help groups. They are charged with cheating, forgery and financial fraud. A total of 12 such cases have reportedly been registered at different police stations in the region.
It is said that over 1,500 self-help groups had been constituted across the Kuttanad region. The accused had allegedly collected money from people by recommending them for bank loans and by promising to arrange loans. The cases were registered on the basis of complaints from people who came to know of the fraud only after receiving bank notices on non-repayment of loans.
The Kuttanad Development Council was in the centre of a scandal for some time. Reports said that people had been approaching the council’s office for money due to them but they were rendered helpless as the office remained closed. Though the probe team had asked the priest to appear for questioning, he had allegedly avoided this by citing health reasons.
Sources in the Crime Branch said that the probe was in the initial stages and the number of cases relating to the loan fraud and the number of accused could go up as it progressed. The priest was arrested on Tuesday in connection with four cases while the High Court had granted anticipatory bail to him in one such case.
The remand report the police submitted in the Ramankary court said the accused had acted with the intention of amassing money fraudulently through cheating. They had not only availed bank loans through fraudulent means but had also caused huge liabilities for others, it said, adding that the money they collected was shared among them.
The cases against Fr Peelianikkal and his arrest have shocked a large section of people as he has all the way been a staunch advocate of the farmers’ causes in Kuttanad. Even the State Government and agriculture experts used to take advices from him and listen to his opinions in subjects related to the development of paddy farming in Kuttanad.