The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 22 immovable properties of a former Indian Bank branch manager and others in different parts of Tamil Nadu, in connection with a bank fraud case.

“The assets include agricultural land measuring 14.93 acres in Kodaikanal, about 11.19 acres of land and over 18,000 sq.ft. of housing plots in other parts of the State, and 2,979 sq.ft. of land and building in Madurai. They belong to K. Pandiyarajan and others,” said an official. Their on-paper value is ₹1.63 crore.

The ED probe is based on a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Chennai branch, against Pandiyarajan and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It was alleged that he cheated the bank of ₹2.85 crore.

The agency found that in 2012-13, Pandiyarajan — as the manager of the bank’s Kodaikanal branch, conspired with two private persons, Venkatesh Kannan and Jeyapaul Thomasraj, to fraudulently sanction housing loans amounting to ₹60.77 lakh to various persons. The funds so raised were used to buy a big parcel of land in Kodaikanal, which was further divided into plots.

Several of these plots were registered in the name of the manager’s wife and that of Kannan, Thomasraj and one K. Athinarayanan, without any monetary consideration. The remaining were sold. “Further, no construction was carried out by the loanees and none of the sanctioned housing loans was repaid, thereby causing loss to the Indian Bank,” said the agency.

During his tenure as chief manager/branch manager in Paramakkudi, the accused again sanctioned housing loans in the names of Athinarayanan and R. Dhanalakshmi. He also got sanctioned business loans to their non-existent firms in 2015.

“The proceeds of all these four loans were diverted by Athinarayanan to various accounts controlled by him and used for other purposes,” said the ED.