New India Co-op scam: Accused promised to give 50 per cent interest on money stolen from bank

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which is probing the case, said that the prime accused and former general manager of the bank, Hitesh Mehta, had siphoned off Rs 122 crore from the bank vaults and handed it over to the other accused for investment.

As per EOW officials, one of the arrested accused Unnathan Arunachalam had handed over Rs 15 crore to Pandey as part of Rs 40 crore received from prime accused Mehta.

Police said that Pandey, along with three associates, had convinced Arunachalam to invest in their business by promising lucrative returns by investing in companies with CSR funds. “He had promised Arunachalam 50 per cent interest on the invested sum,” an EOW official said.

Following this, Arunachalam is alleged to have transferred Rs 15 crore to Pandey. The EOW is now tracing the identities of the three other individuals who played a role in this fraudulent investment scheme.

While seeking his custody, police stated that they needed to find out what Pandey had done with the money that was transferred to him by the accused.