EOW plans lie detector test on Hitesh Mehta, key accused in Rs 122 crore fund embezzlement case of New India Co-op Bank
The EOW officers are trying to find out why the gross financial irregularities at the bank was not flagged in the past five years at the time of annual auditing
3 min read
An EOW officer on Tuesday said that since Mehta is changing his statement regarding the amount he has given to other accused. It is believed that he is lying on many aspectsThe Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police investigating the alleged Rs 122 crore embezzlement at the New India Cooperative Bank is planning to conduct a lie detector test on Hitesh Mehta, the prime accused and the former general manager, as he is changing his versions during interrogation and not cooperating with the probe.
EOW may soon move court seeking permission for the same. An EOW officer on Tuesday said that since Mehta is changing his statement regarding the amount he has given to other accused. It is believed that he is lying on many aspects.
“Initially, he claimed an amount and when the same was cross-checked with the other accused Dharamesh Paun, it turned out to be a different amount. Hence, we decided to conduct a lie detector test on him and would soon make an application before the court for the same,” said an EOW officer.
As per mandatory procedure, the court will ask Mehta for his consent, and only after he gives consent the EOW will be granted permission for the scientific test to be performed on the accused.
Mehta, during initial questioning, claimed to have given Rs 70 crore to developer Paun. Paun had taken this money in the name of investing 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 has been shown as wanted accused in the case. Meanwhile, on Tuesday the EOW also recorded statement of one of the auditors who audited bank’s books.
The EOW officers are trying to find out why the gross financial irregularities at the bank was not flagged in the past five years at the time of annual auditing. EOW officials are also questioning other staff at the bank.
Police sources said that 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 seeing that the small businessmen were in dire need of money due to heavy losses in the business during Covid period, Mehta gave them loans on interest, a source said.
Mehta is a commerce graduate and started working with the bank in 1987. He was due for retirement in October this year. He was appointed as General Manager and head accountant in 2002.
In the preliminary investigation, it has been revealed that Mehta allegedly embezzled Rs 112 crore from the vaults of Prabhadevi office and Rs 10 crore from the vaults of Goregaon office.
Mehta and Paun are currently in police custody till February 21.
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