Coop bank embezzlement case: Three accused remanded in EOW custody till Feb 28

Mumbai: A court on Friday extended the police remand of Hitesh Mehta, the main accused in the Rs 122 crore New India Cooperative Bank embezzlement case, till February 28. The court also remanded in police custody till February 28 Abhimanyu Bhoan, the former CEO of the bank who was held late Thursday night.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police is probing the case. Mehta, the general manager and head of accounts of the bank, is accused of misappropriating Rs 122 crore from the bank's safe over a period of time. He was held along with real estate developer Dharmesh Paun, to whom he had given some part of the money allegedly embezzled from the bank.

Mehta, Paun and Bhoan were produced in a magistrate's court.


Police told court further probe was required in connection with the huge amount of documents related to the case. It also told court Mehta and Paun need to be confronted with Bhoan.

Advocate Karan Mehta, appearing for Hitesh Mehta, said the probe into his client's role was over. His custody was not needed in the probe pertaining to the documents and, therefore, he should be remanded in judicial custody, the advocate told court.

After hearing the arguments, the court remanded Mehta, Paun and Bhoan in police custody till February 28. The case was registered at Dadar police station on February 15 on the complaint of acting chief executive officer of the bank Devarshi Ghosh.

The probe was then transferred to the EOW. Mehta and the others have been charged under sections 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust by public servants, bankers, and others in positions of trust) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The alleged misappropriation of funds from the safes of the bank's offices in Prabhadevi and Goregaon came to light following an inspection by the Reserve Bank of India.