Kerala: Fake IPS officer who defrauded banks held

THRISSUR: Vipin Karthik , a 29-year-old who posed as an IPS officer and fleeced money from different banks and individuals, has been arrested. His mother Kuniyil Veettil Shyamala Venugopal (55), who had posed as assistant information officer, was arrested earlier. Preliminary investigations indicated that the mother and son had pocketed more than Rs 2.5 crore from banks and individuals, Thrissur Range DIG S Surendran said.

Shyamala and Karthik hailed from Thalassery, but they had purchased a house in Kozhikode earlier and were staying in Guruvayur after purchasing flat there, the DIG said.

They were producing forged salary certificates to avail loans from the banks and were buying luxury cars and bikes. They had reportedly purchased 10 cars and two motorcycles. They were selling off the vehicles again by producing fake loan repayment certificates of the banks, Guruvayur ACP T Biju Bhaskar said.

Karthik, who claimed that he was an IPS officer posted in Kupwara in Kashmir and was moving around in police uniforms, used to book rooms in hotels and resorts as well as take membership in luxury clubs. There are reports that he had duped even police officials by posing as highly-placed official. He had also registered a marriage with a woman from Pandalam about a year back. Interestingly, their formal engagement was conducted only two months back, Guruvayur CI Premanandakrishnan said.

The details of the frauds committed by the mother and son were exposed following the filing of a complaint by the manager of a public sector bank branch in Guruvayur. The manager had complained that apart from taking loans from the bank with forged documents, mother and son had fleeced about Rs 25 lakhs and gold ornaments weighing 95 sovereigns.

The duo tried to flee when they realised that the police were after them. However, the mother was nabbed from Kozhikode on October 27.

Karthik remained absconding by moving in trains in different parts of the country. However, the police officials in Chittur, Palakkad , took him into custody and arrested him on Wednesday evening.

Karthik had claimed to the police that he had scored 68th rank in engineering entrance examination in 2008 and had secured admission in NIT, Kozhikode. He had also claimed that he did not complete the studies. However, the police officials said this has to be verified.

Karthik was jailed in Thairuvananthapuram and Thalassery for about two years earlier in connection with similar fraud cases. Already, 15 cases are pending against Karthik and Shyamala, and the Guruvayur police have slapped four more cases now, the CI said.