The Kochi zonal office of the Directorate of Enforcement restituted a sum of ₹89.75 lakh to six people who had paid money for admission to the MBBS course at Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College and Hospital, Karakonam, Thiruvananthapuram.
The money was restituted following an order issued by a Special Court trying the money laundering case booked against Dr. Bennet Abraham, the director of the college and others. The ED took up the case after the State police registered the First Information Report, according to S. Simi, Deputy Director, ED.
Investigations revealed that the accused had collected money from parents and students by offering admission to MBBS and Post Graduate courses at the medical college while being aware that such admissions were discontinued after the introduction of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test. The money was collected from the parents under the pretext of donations/advance fees for admissions to the college, according to the official.
Dharmaraj Rasalam, former CSI Bishop, T. T. Praveen, former secretary of the college, P. Thankaraj, former finance comptroller of the college and P.L. Shaji, an office clerk, are the other accused in the case. The ED had provisionally attached ₹95.25 lakh, which according to the officials, was proceeds of crime. The agency has also filed the final report in the case.
Incidentally, a few applications of depositors of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank for restitution of money are pending before the PMLA court, in Kochi.
The agency had arrested a few prominent politicians and provisionally attached the assets of some accused in the bank fraud case. The Karuvannur case had run into controversy with the ED arresting some CPI(M) leaders and searching the house of a former CPI(M) Minister. The financial frauds allegedly committed in the bank were one of the talking points in the last general elections.
