"Don’t shield politicians": Kerala High Court to investigating officer in Karuvannur bank fraud probe

The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) investigating the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank fraud case to conduct a thorough and fair investigation into the alleged ₹100 crore financial scam. [Suresh MV v State of Kerala & ors].Justice DK Singh warned the investigating officer, DySP Balakrishnan, not to shield politicians and also cautioned him of strict action if the case is not thoroughly probed."Don’t shield politicians. If I find you are not investigating properly, I will initiate action against you. Investigate from all angles. Even if it is a politician, don’t shield them. If someone puts pressure, record the call and bring it to court," the judge said. .The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by Suresh MV, a former employee of the Karuvannur bank, who sought transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) citing inefficiency, undue delay, and external influence in the ongoing police probe.According to the petitioner, the scam involves misappropriation of over ₹300 crore from various customer accounts, where money was siphoned off through benami loans (a transaction or property held in the name of one person but actually owned by another) and forged documents, with active involvement of political and influential persons.The petitioner moved the High Court seeking an independent probe, claiming that the police had failed to complete the investigation even after several years passed since the case was registered at the Irinjalakuda Police Station in 2021.During an earlier hearing, the Court had already recorded its dissatisfaction at the government's justification that the delay in filing the final report was due to the seizure of key documents by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It refused to grant the government's request for three more months to complete the probe and directed DySP Balakrishnan to be personally present on the next hearing date.DySP Balakrishnan submitted that the final report had been filed and that the investigation was progressing at rapid pace..However, the Court made it clear that the investigation was still incomplete in material respects and directed the officer to probe the roles of all persons named by the Enforcement Directorate in its Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).The Court further permitted him to collect the ECIR copy from ED standing counsel Jayasankar V Nair..The Court also directed the officer to avoid coming under political or bureaucratic pressure and stated that any failure to investigate the case fairly would attract consequences."The Investigating Officer is warned against coming under pressure from any political or bureaucratic quarter. He is expected to carry out the investigation in a fair manner without being influenced or coming under any pressure from anywhere. This Court finds that the investigation has not been carried out properly and the roles of political activists have not been investigated fairly. The Investigating Officer will bear the brunt for his dereliction of duty,", the Court added.The matter will be heard again in July..The petitioner was represented by advocate SS Aravind..[Read Order].[Read Live Coverage]