Help nab Nirmal Krishna chit fund scam accused, police urged

Thiruvananthapuram: The Tamil Nadu organised crime wing team probing the Nirmal Krishna chit fund scam on Monday sought the help of the special police team from Kerala in nabbing the accused in the scam, even as Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala urged Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to initiate a CBI probe into the scam involving around Rs 2,000 crore.

According to sources, the Kerala police's special team led by SP (anti-piracy cell) Mr. Prasanthan Kani had a meeting with the Tamil Nadu OCW team at Nagercoil on Monday. The TN police sought the help in nabbing  16 more wanted in the case, including the key accused K. Nirmalan alias Nirmal Krishna. The TN police also initiated steps to issue lookout notice for the accused. "We have sought the passport details of the key accused from the regional passport offices in Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram. As soon as the details are received, the airports will also be alerted," TN police sources said.

The TN police were learnt to have conducted search at the houses of the key accused, including the house of Nirmal at Jagathy here. They also sought the  details from the revenue and registration authorities at Neyyatinkara and nearby regions on the properties, mainly land, of the accused. In a letter sent to the Tamil Nadu chief minister on Monday, Mr. Chennithala said that since the scam was spread over two states, it would be better to have a probe by the CBI than the local police.

Meanwhile, a local court here   posted the consideration of an insolvency petition filed by Nirmal   to Tuesday.  While 16 respondents were listed in the petition, hundreds of investors were learnt to have filed petitions at the court raising claims. Legal sources said that the usual procedure in such cases would be to appoint a receiver by the court and settle the dues. But in this case, Nirmal  filed a personal insolvency petition. Hence it would be crucial to see if the claims of depositors could be allowed by the court as Nirmal  is only one of the directors of the firm now, said a lawyer.