Businessman held in New India Bank scam; seventh arrest so far

Mumbai: The Mumbai police have arrested businessman Javed Azam in connection with the Rs 122 crore scam at New India Cooperative Bank, an official said on Tuesday. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police held Azam (48) late Monday night, making it the seventh arrest in the case so far, he said.

"During the investigation, the EOW found that Azam had received Rs 18 crore through one of the arrested accused, Unnathan Arunachalam. Azam, a resident of Kandivali, runs a business of electrical goods distribution," the official said.

Unnathan Arunachalam, who was also in the trade of electrical goods, had come in contact with Azam, he said. Investigation has revealed that Unnathan and his father Manohar Arunachalam siphoned off Rs 33 crore from the bank, he said.


Former General Manager and Head of Accounts at the bank, Hitesh Mehta, who is the prime accused in the case, had given Rs 15 crore to Manohar Arunachalam in 2019, followed by Rs 18 crore at his office and handed over to Azam, he added.

According to the police, Rs 122 crore were siphoned off from the safes of New India Cooperative Bank's Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices in Mumbai. A few more individuals have also been named as wanted accused, including the bank's former chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife, ex-vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu, who fled abroad just before the scam came to light.

Last week, the Mumbai police conducted a polygraph test on prime accused Hitesh Mehta. The test, also called a lie detector test, was conducted on Mehta at the Forensic Science Laboratory in the city's Kalina area. According to EOW sources, the test results indicate possible deception in Mehta's responses.

The authorities are probing further financial transactions and possible involvement of more individuals in the large-scale scam, the official said, adding hat more arrests are likely as the investigation progresses.