21 February,2025 07:50 AM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
Customers visit New India Co-operative Bank’s Kandivli Mahavir Nagar branch on February 14. Pic/Nimesh Dave
Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested former New India Co-operative Bank CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan, 45, in connection with the R122 crore fraud case. Sources in the EOW have said that Bhoan had been associated with the bank since 2008, initially serving as the vice president of IT. In 2019, he was promoted to CEO, succeeding Damayanti Salunkhe, who was then appointed as the bank's executive director. In September 2024, the bank sought an extension for his tenure as CEO from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but the request was denied. On February 6 the bank informed him that he was being removed from the CEO position. Since then, he has been on leave.
Bhoan was not initially present at the bank when the investigation began. He was questioned on Tuesday and again on Thursday, following which he was arrested at 11 pm. He has been remanded in police custody until February 28 on Friday by Esplanade court. Meanwhile, the custody of previously arrested accused Hitesh Mehta and Dharmesh Paun has also been extended until February 28.
According to EOW, preliminary investigations have revealed Bhoan's involvement in the disappearance of cash. He was the direct supervisory officer of Hitesh Mehta, who is suspected to have played a key role in the fraud. EOW is probing how such large amounts of cash were flowing in and disappearing from the bank. Auditor Abhijit Deshmukh was called in for questioning again on Friday. Since 2019, cash thefts ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore have been reported at various times. In some instances, Hitesh Mehta himself withdrew cash from the vault, while on other occasions, he instructed bank employees to retrieve it.
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According to the EOW, each year, the amount of missing cash identified during audits increased. In 2017, the bank's main branch had a cash retention limit of Rs 20 crore. While this limit was never officially raised, the cash holdings kept increasing. Eventually, it was discovered that the vault contained Rs 133 crore in cash. According to the FIR, a total of Rs 122 crore was missing from the bank's cash vault on February 12 when RBI carried out an inspection.
