T’puram: Sindhu Kumari, the prime accused in the alleged gold pawn fraud case linked to the deaths of two employees of a private finance company, denied all allegations during her custodial interrogation on Monday, police said. The accused was questioned till 7pm, but police said she was not cooperating with the probe.“We are confronting her with the available evidence and will continue the questioning,” a police officer said.Police said Sindhu would be taken to several financial institutions on Tuesday as part of evidence collection. The team will visit branches of nationalized banks at Poonkulam and Thampanoor, the KSFE branch at Thampanoor, Murali Finance, a private financial establishment at Kovalam where the missing gold was allegedly disposed of, and the accused’s residence.Police also said the accused allegedly gained the confidence of customers by claiming she had worked with KSFE, persuading them to entrust her with pledged gold. Police said the number of complainants has increased to 20 on Monday, and additional charges are likely to be invoked as more evidence emerges during the probe.“The purpose of the visits are to verify her financial transactions, trace the money trail and collect documentary evidence,” the source said.Although district crime records bureau (DCRB) has taken over the investigation, the custodial interrogation is being conducted by Vizhinjam police following an earlier court order permitting them to question the accused.The case came to light after two employees of the private finance company, Anju (28) of Venniyoor, and Aishwarya (32) of Venganoor, died by suicide after the accused refused to return around 70 sovereigns of pledged gold that the deceased allegedly handed over.
