Mumbai: In a first case of attachment of assets in economic crimes under the provisions of the new criminal legislation Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the Mumbai police’s Economic Offence Wing (EoW) attached 21 immovable properties of five accused in the Rs122 crore New India Cooperative Bank scam.
Invoking the provisions of the BNSS section 107 that gives police powers to attach and forfeit of assets believed to be derived from criminal activities, the EOW had moved an application for attaching the 21 properties valued at Rs167 crore.
The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Esplanade Court granted approval for attachment of assets in the bank scam.
The accused had invested the embezzled funds from New India Cooperative Bank vaults in properties of which Rs150 crore were invested in SRA projects by arrested accused Dharmesh Paun.
The 21 properties attached by the police include the bank’s former general manager Hitesh Mehta’s seven flats, one shop and a bungalow worth Rs12 crore, a shop worth Rs1.5 crore owned by Arunachalam Ullahanathan Maruthuvar; a flat worth Rs75 lakh owned by Kapil Dedhia; a flat and a shop, each worth Rs50 lakh in Patna and Madhubani; electronics worth Rs55 lakh seized from Digital Duniya stores belonging to Javed Azam; Rs2.5 crore paid as rent for 10 electronic stores; and an investment of Rs150 crore in 40,000 sq-ft of proposed Slum Rehabilitation Authority project by Dharmesh Paun.
