Thiruvananthapuram: The ‘scooter scam’ that has been rocking Kerala got wider with the police naming Justice CN Ramachandran as the third accused in the FIR that has been filed. The first accused is Ananda Kumar, the well-known Global Director of Sai Gramam in the capital.
Second accused Anandhu Krishnan, who was arrested earlier, said Sunday that he had lent money to major political parties, politicians and other prominent public figures, thus widening the ‘roads’ of the scooter scam which is estimated to have defrauded investors of over Rs 50 crore. The figure is likely to touch Rs 100 crore as more complaints are being filed.
Justice Ramachandran denied any involvement in the scam and accused the police of including his name in the case without even asking a question.
Anandhu Krishnan, the prime accused in the case, used more than 200 NGOs using prominent names to execute fraudulent half-price schemes for various products such as scooters, laptops and home appliances. It is suspected that Anandhu was involved in hawala and black money transactions.
Amidst complaints that the police are going slow in the case due to the alleged involvement of political figures and parties, the investigating officers are planning to wrap up the primary investigation and hand over the case to the economic offences wing of the crime branch.
In the initial stage, allegations were directed at BJP leaders, but as the investigation progressed, the involvement of leaders of other political parties, including the Congress and the CPM, have come to light.
“Currently, we are focusing on uncovering the modus operandi of the accused and completing the initial procedures of the investigation. We are looking into how the money was swindled, examining bank accounts and gathering substantial material evidence,” said Satheesh Bino, Ernakulam range DIG, was quoted in the media.
Anandhu was on Sunday taken to his offices across Kerala as part of evidence collection. Investors who were duped said they became part of the scheme to buy scooters and laptops at half the price by seeing the names of prominent figures in the brochures produced by Anandhu.
