- The Mumbai police have filed a case against the General Manager and Head of Accounts of the New India Cooperative Bank, along with his associates, for allegedly embezzling Rs 122 crore.
- The case has been handed over to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police for further investigation.
- On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed several restrictions on the cooperative bank, including limitations on fund withdrawals by depositors, due to supervisory concerns arising from recent developments within the bank, aimed at safeguarding the interests of its depositors.
- On Friday, the RBI took the step of superseding the bank’s board for a year and appointed an administrator to oversee its operations, along with a committee of advisors to provide assistance.
- A police official stated, “Devarshi Ghosh, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the bank, visited the Dadar police station in central Mumbai on Friday to file a complaint regarding the misappropriation of funds.” According to the complaint, the bank’s General Manager and Head of Accounts, Hitesh Mehta, along with his associates, allegedly conspired to embezzle Rs 122 crore from the funds stored in the safes of the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices.
The Mumbai police have filed a case against the General Manager and Head of Accounts of the New India Cooperative Bank, along with his associates, for allegedly embezzling Rs 122 crore. Officials confirmed this on Saturday. The case has been handed over to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police for further investigation.
On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed several restrictions on the cooperative bank, including limitations on fund withdrawals by depositors, due to supervisory concerns arising from recent developments within the bank, aimed at safeguarding the interests of its depositors.
On Friday, the RBI took the step of superseding the bank’s board for a year and appointed an administrator to oversee its operations, along with a committee of advisors to provide assistance. A police official stated, “Devarshi Ghosh, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the bank, visited the Dadar police station in central Mumbai on Friday to file a complaint regarding the misappropriation of funds.”
According to the complaint, the bank’s General Manager and Head of Accounts, Hitesh Mehta, along with his associates, allegedly conspired to embezzle Rs 122 crore from the funds stored in the safes of the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices.
Based on this complaint, a case was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 316 (5) for criminal breach of trust by public servants, bankers, and others in positions of trust, and 61(2) for criminal conspiracy against Mehta and his associates.
Given the complexity of the investigation, the case was subsequently transferred to the EOW, which has initiated its own probe. Most of the 28 branches of this cooperative bank are situated in the Mumbai metropolitan area, with additional branches in Surat, Gujarat, and one in Pune.
The RBI’s actions have caused panic among the bank’s customers, who flocked to its branches on Friday morning in hopes of accessing their savings, only to be denied entry.