The Income Tax department quizzed M.M Varghese, the Thrissur district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] here on April 5 on charges that a large cash withdrawal was made from the account of the party in a nationalised bank in Thrissur.
The officers collected his statement at the Kochi office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Mr. Varghese had appeared at the ED office as part of the investigation into the multi-crore Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank loan scam.
The IT department started the probe into the withdrawal of money in view of the enhanced surveillance against the use of black money/unaccounted money in connection with the Lok Sabha election. The account in the name of the CPI(M) Thrissur district committee was not reflected in the IT returns filed by the party, it is learnt. The department has asked Mr. Varghese to explain why the transactions carried out through the bank account were not part of the annual returns filed by the party.
