The Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court on Thursday sent Vishnu Prasad, the first accused and the alleged mastermind of the scam involving diversion of money from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) in the aftermath of the 2018 deluge to ineligible people, to the custody of the C-Branch of the city police for five days till March 16.
In their custody application, the police claimed that the available documents pointed to the possibility of the first accused having done more illegal transactions, exploiting his official capacity, and that he should be further interrogated to trace the extent of the misappropriated money.
The police said the first accused, who was a clerk in the CMDRF section at the district collectorate, had not been cooperating with the investigation, and hence the exact amount he had illegally diverted from the fund could not be accurately estimated.
Citing reasons for the extended custody of the first accused, the police claimed that he had so far only admitted to crimes proved by the documents seized but was secretive of other potential crimes and non-cooperative with the investigators.
Initially, the accused admitted to have tampered only with the account numbers to which the transfer of money from the CMDRF had failed.
But investigations proved that he had revised the list of beneficiaries by including his name and those of other ineligible persons to illegally transfer money, which needs to be probed further, the custody application said.
The police also termed the custody of the first accused vital for tracking down and seizing assets procured by him.
His presence was also cited as crucial to more detailed investigations and collection of evidence to find out whether more people were involved in the crime.
The first accused was arrested on March 3 in the wake of a complaint lodged by the Additional District Magistrate with the Thrikkakara police regarding the alleged diversion of money from the CMDRF.
The second accused, who was produced in court after the five-day custody along with the first accused, was sent to the Muvattupuzha sub jail.
The police had arrested four accused in the case, while M.M. Anwar, Kaulat Anwar, and M.M. Neethu, the third, fourth and fifth accused respectively, are absconding.