Bank embezzlement case: EOW gets video of Mehta's RBI questioning, wants lie detector test on him

Mumbai, Feb 24 (PTI) A video of Hitesh Mehta, the main accused in the Rs 122 crore New India Co-operative Bank embezzlement case, being questioned by the RBI's inspection team and his statement has been obtained by the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing as part of its probe, an official said on Monday.

The EOW will also move an application in court seeking permission to conduct lie detector test on Mehta, the official added.

A case was registered at Dadar police station on February 15 after 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.

The probe was then transferred to the EOW, which arrested bank's general manager and head of accounts Hitesh Mehta, its former CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan and real estate developer Dharmesh Paun.

"Mehta was questioned by the RBI team at the banks Prabhadevi corporate office in the second week of February and his confessional statement about cash going missing from the safe was videoed. The video has been obtained and EOW is going through it as part of the probe," the official said.

"Mehta has claimed he had given Rs 50 crore to Unnathan Arunachalam alias Arunbhai who is wanted in the case. As per Mehta, of this amount, Rs18 crore and Rs 15 crore were deposited in two trusts for profit. We are probing this. We are also probing if Mehta purchased property. The EOW has written to Inspector General of Registration and Stamps, Income Tax department etc," he said.

"Mehta has also said he had given Rs 1 crore to arrested former CEO of the bank Abhimanyu Bhoan. We will move an application in he court seeking permission to conduct a lie detector test on Mehta," the official added.

Abhijeet Deshmukh, a partner of the chartered accountancy firm that carried out audits at the bank, is being questioned, the official said.

"He has produced documents related to the audit of the bank. We are probing why the firm gave A-grade certificate to the bank and did not flag misappropriation of funds underway," the official said.

Meanwhile, the RBI on Monday relaxed the conditions and permitted customers of New India Co-operative Bank to withdraw up to Rs 25,000 from their deposit accounts with effect from February 27.

In a statement, the Reserve Bank said that after reviewing the bank's liquidity position in consultation with the Administrator, it has "decided to allow a deposit withdrawal of up to Rs 25,000 per depositor, with effect from February 27, 2025".

With the relaxation, more than 50 per cent of the total depositors will be able to withdraw their entire balances and the remaining depositors can draw up to Rs 25,000 from their deposit accounts, it said.

On February 13, the Reserve Bank had imposed All Inclusive Directions (AID) on the Mumbai-based cooperative bank, which included a ban on deposit withdrawals, amid supervisory concerns.

Later, the RBI superseded the Board of Directors of New India Cooperative Bank for a period of 12 months. PTI DC BNM

Source: PTI