The bank run was said to have been escalated by Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer,[circular reference] the Diwan of Travancore, in an attempt to reduce the power of the Christian Community who were agitating for fair representation in the governing council of the Princely State.

Mammen and Mathen had started an insurance company together, and the commercial success of this new venture led them to amalgamate their respective banks in 1937.

(Central Street), Bombay, Calcutta, Calicut, Changanacherry, Chirayinkil, Cochin, Coimbatore, Colombo, Coonoor, Cuddapah, Devicolam, Dindigul, Ernakulam, Erode, Galle, Hyderabad, Jaffna, Kandy, Karaikudi, Kayamkulam, Kottayam, Kumbakonam, Madras: Anderson Hall, G.T., Flower Bazaar, Mount Road, Triplicane, Mylapore, Vepery, Thyagarayanagar, Royapettah, Madura, Mangalore, Marthandorn, Mercara, Munnar, Mysore, Nagercoil, New Delhi, Ootacamund, Palghat, Parur, Perumpavoor, Pollachi, Poona, Pudukottah, Quilon, Quilon Sub Office, Rajapalayam, Salem, Secunderabad, Shertallai, Srirangam, Tellicherry, Tenkasi, Tinnevelly, Tinnevelly Junction, Tirupur, Thiruvella, Trichinopoly (25 Lascjar Street), Trichinopoly (Chinnakadai Teppakulam), Trichur, Trippunittura, Trivandrum (Main Road), Trivandrum (Chalai Bazaar), Tuticorin, Udumalpet, Vellore, Virudhunagar, Vizagapatam.

TN&Q Bank was established in 1937 with a new Quilon headquarters building which Mathen built at a cost of Rs.1,40,000 (a very large sum of money at that time).

At this point the trap was sprung, by Sir CP's administration demanding the extradition of Mathen and Mammen Mappillai from Madras Presidency to Travancore State to stand trial for defrauding the public.

Sir CP also convinced the British Government in Madras that the bank and its directors had been financing the Indian National Congress and the Independence movement, so appeals to the Madras High Court and the Privy Council in London to stay the extradition orders were rejected and 3 directors of the bank including Mathen, Mammen Mappillai and Mammen Mappillai's elder brother and Mammen Mappillai's son, were transported in chains from Madras to Quilon (now called Kollam]) to stand trial.

Soon afterwards, Sir CP, who had been an astute lawyer in the colonial administration, being keenly aware of the weaknesses in the Government's case – which depended on K. S. Ramanujam who vanished abroad after the trial - sent word to Mammen Mappillai and Mathen that if they admitted their accused guilt and sought the Maharaja's mercy they could be pardoned.

Mammen Mappillai and his son, had other major family problems, so they agreed to sign the false declaration but Mathen continued to refuse.

Finally, on 22 January 1942, C. P. Mathen was unconditionally released by the Maharaja's Government without any written or verbal false admission of guilt.