New India Cooperative Bank GM arrested in Rs 122 crore scam case

NEW DELHI: Hitesh Mehta, the general manager at New India Cooperative Bank was arrested by Mumbai police, in connection with an alleged Rs 122 crore embezzlement case, officials told news agency PTI on Saturday.
The arrest came after the bank’s acting chief executive officer, Devarshi Ghosh, filed a complaint at Dadar police station, earlier on Saturday, accusing Mehta and others of misappropriating Rs 122 crore. Given the scale of the fraud, the case was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for further investigation.
Mehta was earlier brought to the EOW office in south Mumbai for questioning.
The complaint alleged that the head of accounts, Mehta conspired with his associates to deviate funds from the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches.
Police filed a case under Sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust by bankers and public servants) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The decision comes after the apex bank dissolved the cooperative bank’s board for a year and appointed an administrator to oversee its operations on Friday.
The RBI also imposed restrictions on withdrawals, citing serious concerns over the lender’s financial health and the need to protect depositors.
New India Cooperative Bank operates 28 branches, majorly in Mumbai, with two in Surat and one in Pune. The RBI’s crackdown on the bank sparked panic among depositors, with many rushing to its branches on Friday morning, only to be denied access to their savings.