New India Cooperative Bank Scam: EOW Arrests 8th Accused from Jharkhand in Rs 122 Crore Fraud

Mumbai's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested Rajeev Ranjan Pandey from Jharkhand in connection with the Rs122 crore scam in New India Cooperative Bank. This marks the eighth arrest in the case. The EOW team brought Pandey to Mumbai on Saturday evening, and he will be produced in court on Sunday.

According to officials, Unnathan Arunachalam, who was arrested earlier, revealed Pandey’s name during interrogation. Further investigations are underway to track how Pandey utilized the money.

An EOW officer stated that Hitesh Mehta, the key accused in the case, had given Rs40 crore to Unnathan Arunachalam, who then transferred a portion of the amount to Pandey. The police are probing how these funds were used.

Earlier, in the same case, Javed Azam, a leader from a political party, was arrested after it was discovered that Unnathan Arunachalam had given him Rs18 crore. During interrogation, it was revealed that Azam used this money to set up 10 showrooms. He is engaged in the electrical goods distribution business.

The father-son duo, Manohar Arunachalam and Unnathan Arunachalam, allegedly misappropriated a total of Rs33 crore in the scam. In 2019, Hitesh Mehta, the bank’s former General Manager, handed over Rs18 crore to Manohar Arunachalam at an office in Andheri. Later, this amount was transferred to Javed Azam, who then invested Rs15 crore.

Following the fraud case, Arunachalam sought Azam’s help to escape and went into hiding in Bihar. Based on this information, EOW arrested Azam.

The case was initially registered at Dadar Police Station based on a complaint filed by interim CEO Devashree Ghosh under BNS Sections 316(5) and 61(2). In addition to the arrest of Hitesh Mehta, the EOW had also taken real estate businessman Dharmesh Paun and the bank’s former CEO, Abhimanyu Bhuvan, into custody. Later, Manohar Arunachalam, Kapil Dedhia, and Unnathan Arunachalam were also arrested. Meanwhile, two other suspects, Hiren Bhanu and Gauri Bhanu, are currently abroad, and the police have issued a lookout notice against them. The investigation into the Rs122 crore fraud case is still underway, with more revelations expected.