Hot on the money trail of the Rs 122 crore embezzlement from New India Cooperative Bank safes, the Mumbai Police Economic Offence Wing (EOW) conducted multiple raids and searches in Madhubani district of Bihar on Thursday and Friday.
The EOW sleuths were quick to move after interrogation of arrested businessman Javed Azam revealed part of the Rs 18 crore recieved from accused Unnathan Arunachalam who had siphoned off Rs 33 crore of the bank funds were invested and cash stashed in Bihar
An electronic showroom Digital Duniya allegedly owned by Javed Azam was raided by the Mumbai Police EOW team in Madhubani to collect evidence of the investments businessman. Javed Azam was arrested last week in connection with the Rs 122 crore scam at New India Cooperative Bank.
The police detained the store manager for questioning and seized several electronic devices and a laptop which is likely to yield important documents and digital evidence related to the scam.
“Azam, a resident of Kandivali, ran a electrical goods distribution business came in touch with another trader in electrical goods Unnathan Arunachalam and took Rs 18 crore of the Rs 33 crore siphoned from the bank. The former General Manager and Head of Accounts at the bank Hitesh Mehta had given Rs 15 crore to Manohar Arunachalam in 2019, followed by another cash payment of Rs 18 crore,” confirmed a senior police officer.
According to the police, Rs 122 crore were siphoned off from the safes of New India Cooperative Bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices in Mumbai.
A total of eight accused are arrested by the EOW while bank’s former chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife, ex-vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu fled abroad just before the scam was exposed.
Meanwhile a Mumbai Magistrate at the Esplanade court extended the police remand of the arrested accused Rajeev Pandey, Kapil Dedhia, Arunachalam and Javed Azam till April 1 with EOW officials stating that the accused were involved in financial irregularities and fraudulent transactions, prompting the agency to expand their probe to multiple locations, including Bihar. The police sought an extension of their custody to further interrogate the accused and gather more evidence related to the scam.
