The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out extensive raids at Kandala Services Cooperative Bank in Thiruvananthapuram under heavy security.

The ED raided the bank near Kattakada following reports of alleged irregularities of several crores of rupees at the bank.

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Raids were also carried out by the ED at several other locations connected with the bank including the residence of former bank secretaries.

The raids are being carried out in connection with the loan fraud in which the former bank president and CPI leader N Bhasurangan is facing allegations of financial irregularities.

The ED team’s inspection commenced at around 5 am on Wednesday  in the presence of security forces. The raids were held at the houses of former secretaries Shantakumari Rajendran and Mohan Chandran as well as the residence of a collection agent Ani.

When the  ED team reached Bhasurangan’s house, they were unable to conduct the raid as the house was locked. However, the ED carried out an inspection at Bhasurangan’s son’s restaurant in Poojapura.

The Department of Cooperation in Kerala had detected malpractices amounting to Rs 100 crore at the bank. The Cooperative Registrar had earlier handed over the reports regarding the loan fraud case to the ED.

Over 50 depositors had filed police complaints, and the Crime Branch had been investigating the matter. However, affected depositors expressed dissatisfaction with the  police probe and lodged a complaint with the ED,  leading to the  Central agency’s intervention in the case.

Meanwhile, giving indication that the probe into the Karuvannur bank scam is reaching to the senior leaders of CPI-M, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a notice to CPI-M Thrissur District Secretary MM Varghese, asking him to appear for interrogation at the agency’s Kochi office on November 25.

It is learnt that during the first stage of the investigation, several witnesses had given statements to the ED about the involvement of CPI-M district leadership in the Karuvannur Bank scam.

The ED officials believe that CPI-M leadership was well aware of the scam but did not initiate any measures to stop accused persons from swindling money in the form of loans from the bank.

Earlier, the ED had questioned CPI-M leaders including former Minister AC Moideen and Kerala Bank vice president M K Kannan.