New India Cooperative Bank case: Hotelier who received Rs 15 crore from accused arrested from Jharkhand

Hitesh Mehta (left), former general manager of New India Co-operative Bank is produced in court on February 16. Pic/Ashish Raje

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on March 22 arrested a 47-year-old Jharkhand-based hotelier allegedly involved in the New India Co-operative Bank scam. According to the police, the individual, Rajivrajan Pandey alias Pavan Gupta, is the eighth accused in the fraud. He was brought on a transit remand from Jharkhand and was produced in the Esplanade court on Sunday. The accused was remanded in police custody till March 28.

On February 12, the EOW registered an FIR against the bank's former general manager Hitesh Mehta for allegedly embezzling R122 crore from the Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches. The police have also arrested businessman Unnanathan Arunachalam, alias Arun Bhai, in connection with the case. "Arunachalam received R40 crore from the prime accused, Hitesh Mehta. Arunachalam then gave Rs 15 crore to Pandey, and hence we arrested him from Jharkhand," an officer said.

An EOW poster announcing a ‘suitable reward' in return for information about accused businessman Unnanathan Arunachalam's whereabouts

The trio intended that Pandey invest in a company's CSR initiatives and that 50 per cent of the profits generated would be given to Mehta and Arunachalam each, the public prosecutor told the court. "The common man's money has been used and the accused are not cooperative and are giving unsatisfactory answers. Hence the accused must be sent to police custody for seven days," The public prosecutor said in court.

According to the police, after Arunanchalam confessed that he had given the money to Pandey, the police through technical investigation had traced him to Bokaro, Jharkhand. "When we reached the spot, Pandey was at his residence. On seeing the police, he shouted, causing people to gather around. Taking advantage of the situation, Pandey fled," an officer said.

The police then questioned Pandey's relatives to determine his whereabouts. "A relative, Nandkumar Tripathi, was aware of Pandey's location and he coaxed him to visit a local police station. After Pandey reached the spot, he confessed that he had received R15 crore from Arunachalam and he was subsequently arrested," the police officer said.