A Mumbai court has remanded Hitesh Mehta, the general manager and head of accounts at New India Cooperative Bank, to police custody until February 21 over allegations of embezzling rRs 122 crore from the bank. Another accused, Dharmesh Paun, was also presented in court and sent to police custody for further investigation.
The case was filed based on a complaint from Devarshi Ghosh, the acting chief executive officer of the bank, at Dadar police station on Friday. The complaint accused Mehta and his associates of conspiring to misappropriate funds from the bank’s safes at its Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices. The case was subsequently transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the police for further probe.
Authorities have charged the accused under Sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust by bankers and public servants) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
Following the financial irregularities, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened by superseding the bank’s board for a year and appointing an administrator to oversee its operations. Prior to this, the central bank had imposed restrictions on fund withdrawals, citing concerns over the lender’s financial stability and aiming to safeguard depositors’ interests.
Investigations are ongoing as authorities delve deeper into the alleged fraud, while affected depositors await further clarity on the future of the cooperative bank.
