The Mumbai police on Saturday (February 15, 2025) arrested Hitesh Mehta, General Manager and Head of Accounts of the New India Cooperative Bank, for allegedly misappropriating ₹122 crore from the bank, officials said.
A complaint was filed against him by the CEO of Bank. As per the complaint, Mr. Mehta along with other associates misappropriated ₹122 crore from the safes of Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices of the bank. “The above accused and his accomplices, in their capacity as General Manager and Head Accounts of the bank, committed criminal breach of trust and misappropriated the amount of about ₹122 crores of the bank’s cash kept in trust in the safe deposit boxes of the Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices. Therefore, a case was registered on the complaint of the complainant,” Dadar police said in a statement.
A case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust by public servants, bankers, and others in positions of trust), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) has been registered.
Mr. Mehta was placed under arrest by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police after being questioned for more than three hours, an official said. Mr. Mehta will be produced before a local court on Sunday, the police official added.
During the investigation, it came to light that the misappropriation of the funds had started soon after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The accused allegedly embezzled ₹112 crore from the safe in Prabhadevi, while ₹10 crore were siphoned off from the Goregaon branch, police officials said.
RBI has recently banned the Bank for undertaking banking operations. A three-member committee headed by Former State Bank of India Chief General Manager Shreekant has been appointed to manage the affairs of the bank for the present. The RBI will manage the bank’s board for 12 months