Mumbai Rs 122-crore co-op bank scam: EOW raids 10 electronics stores in Bihar, Ex-GM Mehta undergoes brain-mapping test
Hitesh Mehta, the prime accused in the bank embezzlement case, on Friday underwent a brain-mapping forensic examination
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During the interrogation of the key arrested accused, Arunachalam Ullahanathan Maruthuvar, EOW officials discovered that some part of the embezzled funds were invested into an electronics store business of accused Javed Azam, 48, in BiharThe Mumbai police Economic Offences Wing (EOW), probing the Rs 122-crore New India Cooperative Bank scam, on Friday carried out raids at 10 electronics stores in Bihar, belonging to Javed Azam, one of the arrested accused in the case.
“EOW’s multiple teams raided 10- stores of ‘Digital Duniya’ a chain of electronics stores, in different districts of Bihar on Friday. Electronic articles and other evidence have been seized from the stores and the process of sealing the stores is underway,” said an EOW officer part of the probe team.
During the interrogation of the key arrested accused, Arunachalam Ullahanathan Maruthuvar, EOW officials discovered that some part of the embezzled funds were invested into an electronics store business of accused Javed Azam, 48, in Bihar.
After Javed was arrested, it has been revealed that out of the Rs 18 crore he allegedly received from Arunachalam, Rs 15 crore had gradually been invested in setting up a chain of 11 stores of electronic items under the brand ‘Digital Duniya’, starting in 2020.
Mehta undergoes brain-mapping test
Meanwhile, Hitesh Mehta, the prime accused in the bank embezzlement case, on Friday underwent a brain-mapping forensic examination at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory as part of Mumbai police Economic Offences Wing’s probe in the matter.
The brain mapping test lasted for nearly three hours and its result will be known to EOW in a few days, said a EOW officer.
Mehta was subjected to a brain-mapping test as EOW could not gather much information from the polygraph test (also known as Lie Detector Test) on March 11.
Mehta was subjected to scientific tests as he allegedly kept changing his statements regarding money transactions during questioning and did not cooperate with the probe.
The result of the polygraph test showed he was deceptive throughout the scientific test, another officer said.
So far, EOW has arrested eight people in the case including prime accused Mehta, who had been allegedly stealing money from the bank’s safe from 2019 to 2025 and handed it over to his two close accomplices—Dharmesh Paun and Arunachalam —who helped misappropriate the funds.
The police said that after the fraud was discovered during an RBI inspection at the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches on February 12, Mehta confessed to the crime and revealed the roles of other accused persons.
Former bank chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife and vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu, who are abroad, are wanted accused in the case. They have claimed through their lawyers that they are innocent and are not involved in any wrongdoings.
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