The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Ramankary, on Wednesday remanded Kuttanad Vikasana Samiti (KVS) executive director Father Thomas Peelianickal in judicial custody for 14 days.
A team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, Vijayakumaran Nair V. arrested him on Tuesday in connection with an agriculture loan scam in Kuttanad. He was booked on charges of cheating.
Earlier, a Crime Branch probe was ordered based on complaints filed by three farmers, hailing from Kavalam, alleging that the office-bearers of a “non-existent” farmer joint liability group took loan from a nationalised bank in their names without their knowledge.
Following this, several people came forward with allegations. In one such case, a group of six people from Mithrakary filed a complaint before authorities alleging that the KVS and Father Peelianical had helped them to obtain ₹5.40 lakh as loan from a bank and they had given ₹30,000 each to the KVS on the promise of getting it back at the time of loan repayment. The complainants had alleged that the KVS office-bearers threatened them when they demanded the money back.
