On Wednesday, February 1, Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan said in the Assembly that punitive measures will be taken against those who are behind the scam.
Investors protest outside society
In what is revealing itself to be a major financial scam in Kerala, more than 350 investors have allegedly been swindled by the BSNL Engineers’ Cooperative Society Ltd. in Vanchiyoor of Thiruvananthapuram. As per reports, the Society had around Rs 100 crore in deposits. Many of the investors, most of them retired employees of BSNL, have come up with allegations that the Society is refusing to return their deposits and interest since November 2022. The case has been handed over to the Crime Branch. On Wednesday, February 1, Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan said in the Assembly that punitive measures will be taken against those who are behind the scam. “In the inspection conducted by the registration department, irregularities including investment fraud have been found. The preliminary finding is that the amounts received from the investors as fixed deposits were recorded in fake registers and fraud were committed by issuing fake fixed deposit certificates,” the CM said. He added that in the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that the scam amounts to Rs 92. 73 crores. Following the findings of the investigation team appointed by the Registrar of the Cooperative Society, a case was registered at the Vanchiyoor police station under Sections 408, 409, 420, 477A, and 34 of the IPC based on the complaint made to the police regarding forgery and extortion. “The investigation so far has found that the President, Honorary Secretary, and an employee of the group are involved. Considering the seriousness of the incident, the investigation of the case has been handed over to the Economic Offenses Investigation Department of the State Crime Branch. A special team consisting of 13 persons including two Deputy Superintendents of police (DSP) and three detective inspectors under the leadership of the Crime Branch SP (Superintendent of Police) will continue the investigation,” the CM said in the Assembly. Around 20 properties of the Society’s President and staff members have been taken over by the Cooperation Department. The CM has said that measures will be taken to seize more properties owned by the concerned authorities of the Society. Savithri M, one of the investors in the Society, told TNM that they used the name ‘BSNL’ to gain the trust of the investors. “The board members were engineers in BSNL and it functioned in the BSNL building, though this has no connection with the company. Most of the retired employees and even outsiders deposited there. For most of us, it was our lifetime’s earnings,” she said. “There are depositors who are above 80 years old, and they are struggling for money. Since July 2022, depositors have tried to withdraw their deposits, but they have been denied payment. From November, the payment of interest has stopped as well. We have learned that the President, Secretary, and many members have bought many properties across Kerala,” she added. She also said that the depositors had approached the Vanchiyoor police several times in the last many months, but they denied filing a case. The complainants say that the 10-member Director Board of the Society did not provide any data on how many accounts they had, and the volume of investments made. The complainants then made a document on their own and shared it with fellow investors to understand the scale of the money involved. "My husband and I worked for about 35 years in BSNL at different places. When we took voluntary retirement, we got a good amount of money and it was all deposited with the Society. We knew all 10 board members of the society as they worked with us. President Gopinathan and my husband worked together in the same section for years. That is why we trusted them with all the money. We deposited the funds during the 2020 COVID-19 times. It was a time when depositing with banks was not easy because of restrictions. The Society had procedures that were easier, so we deposited our money with them. It's all gone now and we have no clue how to live. Everything we had was taken from us," Jaya Preman, another victim of the scam said.
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