MALAPPURAM: The police team probing the swindling of Rs 6 crore from the Malappuram office of the Jalanidhi project has extended the search to Karnataka to nab the prime accused, Praveen Kumar. It is suspected that Kumar, who worked as an accountant in the office, had fled to Karnataka after the scam was unearthed a few weeks ago. The finance wing of the Jalanidhi project is also conducting a probe into the incident in which Rs 6 crore was transferred to the accounts of the accused without anyone detecting it.
The police team questioned Deepa Praveen, wife of the accused, who runs a textile business. The officials were also investigating certain textile business establishments of Praveen in Thiruvananthapuram, where the swindled money was diverted. The Jalanidihi office in Malappauram was handling the drinking water and sanitation projects in the panchayats of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad and Thrissur districts.
