Kerala police initiated a probe against 1,425 Keralites including 700 nurses who fled to other foreign countries after allegedly defrauding a Bank in Kuwait of approximately ₹700 crore.
According to Indian media reports, as many as 10 cases were registered on November 5 in this regard in the Kottayam and Ernakulam districts of Kerala state in India. This was after the senior officials of a Kuwait based Bank visited Kerala and lodged a complaint with the ADGP in charge of law and order, report added.
Preliminary information suggests that most of the accused are nurses, who were working in Kuwait Ministry of Health. They took loan amount between 35,000 KD to 45,000 KD (Approximately 90 lakh to 1.25 crore rupee) from the bank while they were working in Kuwait and later moved to other foreign countries such as the US, UK, and Canada without repaying the loan.
The bank has shared details of the defaulters including their Kerala address with the police, leading to the registration of the cases.
The bank cited Section 188 of the CrPC, which stipulates that if an 'Indian citizen commits a crime abroad, they should face the same legal action as if they were in India'.