Kochi: The Kerala High Court has questioned the delay in the investigation into the multi-crore Karuvannur Cooperative Bank fraud case. The court also directed the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to inform it about the current stage of the investigation.

"Cooperative societies are for the common people. They are not for the millionaires," observed Justice Devan Ramachandran. "Poor people invest their hard-earned money and when it is lost, they lose faith in cooperative societies," he added.

The court made the observation while considering the petition filed by Ali Sabri, an accused in the case, questioning the confiscation of his property and the freezing of his bank accounts. As ED asked for two week's time, the petition was postponed to February 16.

he court pointed out that the investigation in the Karuvannur Co-operative Bank case cannot be extended indefinitely and it will affect the system itself.

"The ED investigation has been going on for the past three years. Why is that? People are struggling to get their money back," the court said.

"There are instances of someone securing a loan of Rs 7 crore by pledging 15 cents of land. This is how other people lose their money," the court observed. HC bench also opined transactions in the Karuvannur bank raise many questions and that they should be considered seriously.

ED in its affidavit had submitted that Industries Minister P Rajeeve pressured the former secretary of the bank to sanction illegal loans. As per the affidavit, former bank secretary Sunil Kumar dropped Rajeeve's name while deposing before the central agency.

According to Sunil's statement, Rajeeve exerted pressure on him to approve illegal loans when the former was CPM Ernakulam district secretary. There are also references to CPM leaders A C Moideen and Paloli Mohammedkutty in the affidavit.