New India Coop Bank ‘scam’: Mumbai Police’s EOW searches ex-chairman’s house

The Mumbai police’s economic offences wing (EOW) has searched the residence of New India Cooperative Bank’s former chairman Hiren Bhanu in connection with the embezzlement of Rs 122 crore at the lender, officials said on Wednesday.

During the search, EOW recovered several documents, which police are examining, an official said.

The house search was conducted in the Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai, where Hiren Bhanu and his wife Gauri Bhanu stayed in a rented flat, an official said. Gauri previously held the position of vice chairman at the bank.

The couple also own a flat at Nepean Sea Road which they have rented out, an official said. Both are wanted accused in the Rs 122-crore embezzlement case.

The EOW team is identifying the couple’s properties and also ascertaining whether they were acquired with the proceeds of the crime, he said.

Meanwhile, the agency will conduct a lie detector test on Hitesh Mehta, former general manager and head of the accounts of the bank, on March 11, the official said.

Mehta is not cooperating and is hiding some important facts concerning the case, due to which he has not given his consent for the test, he said. But the court has permitted the police to conduct the forensic psychological test on Mehta, the official said.

The EOW is probing what prompted the Reserve Bank of India’s inspection team to visit the bank in February 2025.

As per the balance sheets of the bank, as of March 31, 2019, it had Rs 33.71 crore in cash which rose to Rs 99 crore on March 31, 2020. It’s almost a three-fold jump, he said.

On March 31, 2021, the figure further increased to 194 crore and it was Rs 105 crore in 2022. At some point in the current financial year, the amount rose to even Rs 152 crore. Police are examining why the RBI team conducted an inspection last month and not in some of the previous years, the official said.

So far, police have arrested four persons in connection with the embezzlement, and four accused are still at large, he added.