Angamaly Co-op Scam: Kerala High Court Grants Bail To Two Booked For Misappropriating ₹115.8 Crores By Allegedly Giving Fake Loans

The Kerala High Court on Monday (August 18) granted bail to two persons booked in the Angamaly Urban Cooperative Society scam case, who along with other accused are booked for misappropriating ₹115.8 Crores by allegedly granting fake loans.

The crime was registered alleging that the accused persons, who are the members of the Managing Committee of the Angamaly Urban Cooperative Society, abused their position with intention to cause undue loss to the Society, have sanctioned fake loans and renewed loans by using the same documents in the name of fake persons. 

Though noting that allegations against the accused were serious and required probe, Justice A. Badharudeen granted the bail to the 5th accused PC Tomy and 12th accused Elsy Varghese, who were both board members of the society, in the 2024 criminal case registered by Crime Branch Ernakulam.

The Court observed:

"In fact, the allegations against the petitioners are very serious and the same would require effective investigation. However, having considered the custody of the petitioners from 24.06.2025 and 25.06.2025 onwards, who have no criminal antecedents and on noticing the progress of investigation, I am of the view that, further custody of the petitioners, for the purpose of investigation is not necessary and they can be enlarged on bail."

Earlier, the bench had denied their anticipatory bail pleas and had expressed displeasure regarding the attitude of the Investigating Officer for not arresting them even though their first bail applications were dismissed in October 2024.

Subsequently, the 5th accused was arrested on 25.06.2025 and the 12th accused was arrested on 24.06.2025. Both of them have been in judicial custody since then, for almost two months.

The counsel for the petitioners urged that both the accused persons were aged persons with ailments and there is no need for them to continue in custody since the investigation has progressed substantially. The Additional Director General of Prosecution (ADGP), however, opposed the plea stating that there are serious allegations and that a prima facie case has been made out.

The Court noted that the petitioners did not have any past criminal records and since the investigation had progressed well, it was inclined to grant bail to them.

Thus, it allowed the bail pleas.

Background

A crime was registered alleging that the petitioners, who were members of the Managing Committee of Angamaly Urban Co-operative Society, abused their position and misappropriated a sum of Rs.55 Crores that belonged to the Society. The allegation is that the same was done with an intention to cause undue loss to the Society and by sanctioning fake loans and renewal of the loans by using the same documents in the name of fake persons. During the course of investigation, it has been revealed that the total money misappropriated was to the tune of Rs.115.8 Crores. 

The offences against the accused persons include those under Sections 406 [Criminal breach of trust], 408[Criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant], 417[Cheating], 465[Forgery], 467[Forgery of valuable security, will, etc.], 468[Forgery for purpose of cheating], 471[Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record], 420[Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property] read with 34[Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention] of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Sections 13(1)(a) and 13(2) [Criminal misconduct by a public servant] of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Case No: Bail Appl. No. 8716/2025 and connected case

Case Title: P.C. Tomy v. State of Kerala and connected case

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 502

Counsel for the petitioners: B. Raman Pillai (Sr.), R. Anil, Sujesh Menon V.B., Thomas Sabu Vadakekut, Mahesh Bhanu S., Ressil Lonan, Joel George Kampiyil, Ananth Krishna K.S., S. Rajeev, V. Vinay, Sarath K.P., M.S. Aneer, K.S., Anil Kumar C.R., Dipa V., Akash Cherian Thomas

Counsel for the respondent: C.K. Suresh - Senior PP, T.A. Shaji - ADGP

Click to Read/Download Judgment