The multi-crore Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds scam that has rocked Kerala took a curious turn on Sunday with the Perinthalmanna police booking a cheating case against former Kerala High Court Judge C.N. Ramachandran Nair and two others.
Mr. Nair is the first high-profile personality to be listed as an accused in the scam.
While Mr. Nair has been named as the third accused in the First Information Report, K.N. Ananda Kumar, chairman of the National NGO Confederation, Malappuram, and Ananthu Krishnan, the confederation’s State secretary, have been listed as the first two accused. It was on a complaint from Danimon of Angadipuram that the police booked the case.
According to the complaint, the three accused, the office-bearers of the confederation, cheated the members of the organisation KSS Angadippuram to the tune of ₹34 lakh. The accused collected the money after offering to provide sewing machines, laptops, and two-wheelers at half the market price. However, neither the offered goods nor the money was returned, according to the FIR.
Meanwhile, the Kochi police raided the house and two offices of Mr. Krishnan in Ernakulam on Sunday.
The documents and other materials collected during the raid will be analysed during the coming days. Investigations revealed that fraud was also committed in the form of a money chain. Mr. Krishnan was apparently anticipating CSR funds to come from various agencies. He claimed to have held talks with various firms to source CSR funds, according to police sources.
A senior police officer later told the media that the scam accused had given money to the representatives of various political parties. The names of the beneficiaries would be known when the probe was completed, he said.
Multiple FIRs have been registered in different parts of the State as complaints are pouring in from hundreds of people who were reportedly cheated by the confederation.
Responding to the developments, Mr. Nair said the police had booked a case against him “without even conducting a preliminary investigation” regarding his alleged involvement in the scam. Mr. Nair, who conceded that he had permitted Mr. Kumar to use his name as the adviser of the confederation, said he relinquished the post in June 2024 after it was found that the organisation was collecting funds. “I had written to them that I was relinquishing the post of the adviser. I have not given any advice or received any money. I had asked them to return the money they had collected from people when the issue came to my notice. The police callously included my name as an accused on receiving the complaint and that too without carrying out any investigation. I have taken up the issue with the Superintendent of Police, Malappuram,” he said.
Mr. Nair denied any involvement in the scam. “The police acted in an indifferent manner and didn’t even bother to call me up to find out the facts or my alleged involvement in the case,” he said.
