The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police said on Thursday that it would soon attach 21 immovable properties worth approximately Rs 168 crore belonging to five key accused in the Rs 122-crore New India Cooperative Bank funds embezzlement case, in first such action under Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) section 107 in the city.
“Invoking the provisions of section 107 (attachment and forfeiture of property that is believed to be derived from criminal activities) of the BNSS, EOW Mumbai had moved an application for attachment of properties derived from the proceeds of crime in the New India Cooperative Bank case. The court after considering the state’s submissions was pleased to allow the attachment of 21 immovable properties worth approximately 167.85 crore belonging to 5 key accused,” the EOW said.
A senior EOW officer told The Indian Express that these properties included the bank’s former general manager Hitesh Mehta’s seven flats, one shop and a bungalow worth Rs 12 crore in total; a shop worth Rs 1.5 crore owned by Arunachalam Ullahanathan Maruthuvar; a flat worth Rs 75 lakh owned by Kapil Dedhia; a flat and a shop, each worth Rs 50 lakh in Patna and Madhubani; electronics worth Rs 55 lakh seized from Digital Duniya stores belonging to Javed Azam; Rs 2.5 crore paid as rent for 10 electronic stores; and most importantly, a 40,000 sq-ft area worth Rs 150 crore that is part of a proposed Slum Rehabilitation Authority project.
The EOW has so far arrested eight people in the case including prime accused Mehta, who allegedly stole money from the bank’s safe from 2019 to 2025 and handed it over to his two close accomplices—Dharmesh Paun and Arunachalam —who allegedly helped misappropriate the funds.
The EOW said that after the fraud was discovered during an RBI inspection at the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches on February 12, Mehta confessed to the crime and revealed the roles of the other accused persons.
Former bank chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife and vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu, who are abroad, are wanted accused in the case. They have, through their lawyers, denied any wrongdoing.
The police have subjected Mehta to lie-detector and brain mapping tests as he was allegedly trying to mislead the investigators and not revealing much details of the misappropriation of the funds.
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