Kerala HC Grants Anticipatory Bail to Congress leader Laly Vincent in CSR Fund Scam

The Kerala High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Congress leader Laly Vincent in connection with the CSR fund scam case. The Kerala CSR fund scam, also known as a half-price scam, involved alleged extortion of money from multiple individuals through a promises of delivering scooters, laptops, and other household appliances at half price, falsely claiming to utilise Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.

There have been allegations that crores of money were swindled by the prime accused Ananthu Krishnan, who had promised to sell scooters to women at half the market price. Krishnan allegedly claimed that he had access to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of various companies to cover the remaining price of the scooters and fooled people.

Over Rs 47 Lakhs transferred to Laly Vincent’s account by prime accused

Congress leader Laly Vincent, who is also a lawyer by profession, has been named as the seventh accused in this case after the Kerala Police found payments worth Rs 47,74,500 sent to her bank account by the prime accused Ananthu Krishnan. Kannur Town South Police has booked Laly Vincent under Sections 316(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Section 316(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) states that a person who commits criminal breach of trust can be punished with up to five years in prison, a fine, or both. Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with the crime of cheating and dishonestly inducing someone to give property.

As per the police, Ananthu Krishnan, the prime accused in the scam, transferred Rs 47,74,500 swindled from people to the Congress leader’s bank account over a period of four years. In her plea, Laly Vincent argued that Ananthu paid the amount as her fee for providing legal advice to him.

Court accepts Vincent’s plea that tie with prime accused ‘strictly professional’

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan while hearing her plea for anticipatory bail in the matter on Monday, took note of Vincent’s argument that any ties she had to the prime accused were only professional. The Court opined that the money received by her from Ananthu Krishnan was a professional fee for her service as a lawyer to her client.

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan also clarified that the High Court’s observations were made only for the purpose of deciding Vincent’s anticipatory bail application, and that they should not influence the ongoing investigation.

“I’m not in a position to conclude that the petitioner has any involvement in the case at this stage, but I make it clear that the investigating officer shall investigate the matter in accordance with law, I make such an observation only for the purpose of deciding this bail application investigating officer is free to investigate the matter untrammeled by an observation in this order,” the judge said.

The Court has directed the Congress leader to appear before the investigating officer within two weeks.

How prime accused Ananthu Krishnan duped people

According to the police, prime accused Anandhu Krishnan aka Ananthu Krishnan used more than 200 NGOs to offer fraudulent half-price schemes for various products such as scooters, laptops, home appliances, etc. Krishnan, 26, a resident of Idukki, allegedly cheated people and charitable societies across the state by promising to deliver two-wheelers, laptops and household appliances such as water purifiers and sewing machines at half the price, claiming that he was procuring them through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of big private firms. He also operated almost 19 bank accounts through which transactions amounting to almost Rs 450 crore were done in the past several months, as per the police.