No respite for Kerala CPI(M) as party councillor fails to get bail in Coop Bank scam

Kochi: Exactly a month after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a top local CPI(M) leader in Thrissur -- the third accused in the over Rs 500 crore Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank loan scam case -- on Friday failed to get a bail in the case.

Strongly opposing the bail of CPI(M) councillor P.R. Aravindakshan, and former bank accountant C.K.Jils, the ED told the PMLA court here that under no circumstances should a bail be given as it would affect the probe.

And to buttress its position, the central agency provided very strong evidence against the role played by the two accused, following which the court denied bail to them.

The denial of bail to Aravindakshan has come as a shock to the CPI(M) as the ED has on its radar top party leaders like senior CPI(M) MLA and former State Minister A.C.Moideen, former party legislator M.K. Kannan who all have been questioned by the central agency on more than one occasion and they appear to have found threads linking these top leaders with Aravindakshan.

The investigation has revealed that on the instruction of certain people, who were district-level leaders and committee members of a "certain" political party, holding top positions, loans were disbursed by the bank manager through the agent in cash to "non-member benamis" by mortgaging properties of not so well-off individuals without their knowledge.

It has come to light that many "benami loans" were disbursed on the instructions of Moideen. And now with the bail being denied, all eyes are on ED's next move to see if it targets Moideen and Kannan. If so, the CPI(M) will find itself in a tight spot as both the Congress and the BJP are breathing down the Pinarayi Vijayan government for allegedly shielding the wrong doers.