CID arrests couple behind bank fraud

Hyderabad: Crime Investigation Department sleuths have arrested a couple on the run since 2009 in a co-operative bank fraud case from their hideout in the city. On October 1, 2009, Annapurna, liquidator of Kanyaka Parameshwari Co-operative Bank, Kukatpally, had lodged a complaint with Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of CID alleging that the board of directors and employees of the bank defrauded small-scale depositors to the tune of 2.86 crore. “The accused misappropriated the amount through sanction of benami loans and falsification of accounts. They diverted the misappropriated funds for their personal gain,” the complainant alleged. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under Sections 409, 420, 406, 477-A and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 5 of the APPDFE Act in 2009. After the investigation, a charge sheet was filed in 2015. However, two of the accused, K Krishna Varma, 65, an employee of Kanyaka Parameshwari Co-operative Bank, and his wife K Padma alias Roopa, 50, a director of the bank, were absconding since the RBI inquiry in 2005. “They have been evading police since 2009. Krishna Varma wantonly projected the name of his wife Roopa as Padma in conspiracy with fellow accused and falsified the records accordingly with her fictitious name. Non-bailable warrants (NBWs) were issued against the couple in 2016 and the CID team arrested them from their hideout in the city on Sunday,” CID chief Mahesh Bhagwat said.