Couple Wanted In New India Co-Operative Bank Fraud Case Held Chairperson, VC Posts
Hiren and Gauri Bhanu, former chairperson and vice chairperson of New India Co-Operative Bank, are wanted for embezzling Rs 122 crore. They are abroad and have surrendered their Indian citizenship.
Mumbai, Mar 1 (PTI) The former chairperson and vice chairperson of New India Co-Operative Bank, Hiren Bhanu, and his wife, Gauri Bhanu, are wanted in connection with the embezzlement of Rs 122 crore at the lender, which is being probed by the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing, an official said.
Both Hiren (58) and Gauri (50), who are currently abroad, occupied the two posts when the embezzlement took place, the official said on Friday.
He said that the couple received Rs 28 crore from the embezzled amount.
"Hiren surrendered his Indian citizenship and is now a British national. The couple is abroad at present. Besides the Bhanu couple, civil contractor Kapil Dedhia and Unnathan Arunachalam alias Arun Bhai are also wanted in the case," the official said.
The embezzlement came to light after the Reserve Bank of India inspected the lender's cash safes, following which a case was registered at Dadar police station. The probe was then transferred to the EOW.
The EOW has arrested the main accused, Hitesh Mehta, the bank's general manager and head of accounts, the bank's former CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan and real estate developer Dharmesh Paun.
"Bhoan was in touch with Hiren and Gauri on the phone after the RBI uncovered the embezzlement. However, when questioned, Bhoan claimed the device had gotten damaged and misplaced. In Bhoan's laptop, we found personal documents of Hiren Bhanu like passport, RBI notices to the bank, etc," the official said.
He also said the EOW on Friday submitted an application in court to conduct a forensic psychological test on Mehta, and permission was granted.
"It will include a lie detector test to ascertain the facts in the case. Mehta had given Rs 41 crore to Paun, Rs 10 crore to Dedhia, and Rs 33 crore to Arunachalam from the embezzled amount. Arunachalam had received Rs 15 crore in May 2019 and Rs 18 crore in August 2019 from Mehta to deposit in two trusts," he said.
"Arunachalam claimed they would get Rs 22 crore after depositing Rs 15 crore, and on investing Rs 18 crore, they will get Rs 22 crore by evading income tax and availing rebate since the money was deposited in a trust. Arunachalam had told them one of the trusts where money can be deposited with maximum benefit was Hyderabad based," the official informed.
Arrested accused Manohar Arunachalam gave money from his consultancy firm's bank account to Mehta, as per the EOW's probe.
The EOW has found that Mehta had given another Rs 7 crore, besides the Rs 33 crore to be deposited in trusts, to Arunachalam, he said.
The EOW probe has found Mehta owns properties in various places in the city and outside Maharashtra, including a Rs 2 crore flat in Vikhroli, a shop worth Rs 1.5 crore, a flat in Dahisar worth Rs 2 crore and another flat in the same area valued at Rs 1.5 crore, he said.
"He also has a bungalow in Valsad in Gujarat. The EOW will seek attachment of these properties during the investigation," the official said.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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