The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has arrested Javed Aazam, the younger brother of BJP’s former Maharashtra secretary Hyder Azam, in connection with the ₹122 crore misappropriation case at New India Cooperative Bank. Javed was taken into custody late on Monday and will be presented before the court on Tuesday, according to a senior EOW officer.
Seventh Arrest in the Case
Javed Aazam’s arrest marks the seventh in the ongoing investigation into the bank fraud case, which first came to light on February 12 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted an inspection and discovered that ₹122 crore in cash was missing from the bank.
So far, the EOW has arrested:
- Hitesh Mehta – General Manager and Head of Accounts of the bank
- Abhimanyu Bhoan – Former CEO of the bank
- Dharmesh Paun – A developer
- Unnathan Arunachalam – A businessman from Malad
- Manohar Arunachalam – Unnathan’s son
- Kapil Dediah – A civil contractor
How Javed Aazam Got Involved
Javed’s name surfaced during the interrogation of Unnathan Arunachalam, who was arrested a day before Javed. According to police sources, Unnathan claimed that he gave ₹18 crore to Javed for his electronics business. This revelation led the EOW to summon Javed for questioning on Monday, ultimately resulting in his arrest.
Investigators are now looking into Javed’s financial transactions to determine if he had any role in hiding the misappropriated funds. Authorities are also probing whether his political connections played a part in delaying or concealing the fraud.
Lie-Detector Test on Main Accused
In a related development, the EOW has received the lie-detector test report of Hitesh Mehta, the main accused in the case. The test was conducted on March 11, and according to a police source, the results were “deceptive, neither truthful nor conclusive.”
Past Controversy Involving Hyder Azam
Javed’s arrest brings renewed attention to his brother, Hyder Azam, who was previously caught in controversy. In 2022, Hyder’s wife, Reshma Azam, was accused of being a Bangladeshi national and allegedly using forged documents to obtain an Indian passport. However, she was later discharged from the case.
About New India Cooperative Bank
New India Cooperative Bank serves 1.3 lakh depositors and operates 28 branches across Maharashtra and Gujarat. The fraud case has raised serious concerns about the security of depositor funds in cooperative banks. The investigation is still ongoing, and more arrests may follow as authorities dig deeper into the scam.
