Cases in BSNL society fraud handed over to crime branch

The city police have handed over 421 cases registered at Vanchiyoor police station in the BSNL Engineers Cooperative Society fraud to the economic offence wing (EOW) headed by DSP Sajad of the crime branch.

The process is also on for transferring 113 more cases registered in the fraud, informed the deputy commissioner of city police V Ajith. More people are coming up with complaints every day and the Vanchiyoor police have been registering individual cases on each complaint under sections of the IPC 408 and 409 for criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant, 420 for cheating and 34 for criminal acts done by more than one person.

The total number of cases registered at Vanchiyoor police station is 534. All these cases will be handed over to the crime branch team. The city police have moved the cases to the crime branch on the basis of an order issued by the state police chief Anil Kant.

Earlier, the crime branch team had decided to probe only one case as per the direction of the city police commissioner. The cooperative department found that a fraud worth Rs 41 crore took place in the society in a preliminary inquiry conducted and also reported that it will go into a detailed probe.

“In fact, registering individual cases on the basis of all the complaints is a herculean task as hundreds of people were cheated in this fraud. By taking into account a high court direction, we have to do it and it will definitely tighten the legal hurdles the accused would face. A transparent probe is being held by the team and justice will be ensured to all those who lost money,” said Ajith.

The people who deposited lakhs of rupees at the society were cheated by the administrative panel members. The president of the society AR Gopinanthan Nair and secretary KV Pradeep were arrested in the case.