A high-ranking official at The New India Cooperative Bank has been arrested for allegedly stealing Rs 122 crore. Hitesh Mehta, the bank’s general manager, admitted to giving Rs 70 crore to a real estate developer to help complete a building project in Charkop, Kandivali. The developer, Dharmesh Paun, was also arrested.
This case started when Devarshi Ghosh, the acting CEO of the bank, reported the missing money to the police. It was then handed over to the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police. They discovered that Mehta took money from the Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches of the bank.
Both Mehta and Paun are in police custody until February 1. The authorities are investigating why the bank’s audits didn’t catch the missing money, which has been happening for five years. Mehta is also suspected of misusing some of the stolen money for his personal needs. Meanwhile, Paun claims he didn’t take all the money from Mehta, and it’s unclear if he applied for a loan from the bank.
This whole situation came to light when officials from the Reserve Bank of India visited the bank’s office and noticed there was less cash than there should be.
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