Hitesh Mehta, the prime accused and former general manager of New India Cooperative Bank, was on Tuesday subjected to a polygraph test, popularly known as a lie detection test, at the hands of experts at the forensic science laboratory Kalina as part of Mumbai police's investigation into Rs 122 crore embezzlement case. A senior officer from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) confirmed the development and said the prime accused was subjected to a polygraph test as he kept changing his statements during interrogation and did not cooperate with the probe. As per rules, no officer from the probe team was present during the procedure. The investigators gave a list of questions to be asked to Mehta during the examination. "The polygraph test was performed for more than two hours. We are yet to get the report from the FSL experts, hence we are not aware of the result of the exercise," another officer, who was part of the probe, said. THE EOW said that details revealed during a polygraph test cannot be used as evidence against the accused, but the probe agency could use the extracted information for the purpose of investigation and evidence collection. The polygraph test is significant in the case as Mehta was changing his statement regarding the amount he had given to other accused persons. It is suspected that he had been lying on several aspects. During initial questioning, Mehta claimed to have given Rs 70 crore to developer Paun. Paun had taken the money claiming to invest it in a slum redevelopment project in Charkop. However, he said that he has not accepted such a big amount from Mehta. Besides this, some money was also given to a Malwani-based solar panel businessman Unnanathan Arunachalam alias Arun Bhai. Arunachalam is a wanted accused in the case. Police sources said Mehta is suspected to have given the money of the bank's depositors on interest to others as unsecured loans during the Covid period. Preliminary information revealed that Mehta on seeing that the small businessmen were in dire need of money due to heavy losses in the business during Covid, gave them loans on interest, a source said. Mehta, who is a commerce graduate, started working with the bank in 1987. He was appointed as general manager and head accountant in 2002 and was due for retirement in October this year. So far four people have been arrested in the case including Mehta, Paun, the bank's ex-CEO Ambhimanyu Bhoan, and the son of Unnanathan Arunachalam, Manohar. At least four people are wanted in the case, including former chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife and vice chairperson Gauri Bhanu.
