Credit society officials arrested for defrauding ₹7.5 cr

Two office-bearers of Mumbai Nagrik Sahakari Pantsanstha, a co-operative credit society, have been arrested for allegedly defrauding depositors of ₹7.50 crore.

MUMBAI: The Kalachowkie police on Wednesday arrested two office-bearers of Mumbai Nagrik Sahakari Pantsanstha, a co-operative credit society, for allegedly defrauding depositors to the tune of ₹7.50 crore. Amit Bhalerao, 40, vice-president of the credit society, and his brother and secretary Ashish Bhalerao, 42, were arrested after their anticipatory bail applications were rejected by the sessions court and the Bombay high court last month, said police officials.

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According to the police, the credit society was established in 2014 and had around 4,500 depositors, an office in Lalbaug, and eight branches. It mostly targeted lower middle-class families from central Mumbai, luring them with attractive interest rates. Office-bearers of the society including chairman Shantaram Tupe, vice-chairman Amit Bhalerao, administrator Usha Chavan and members of the board of directors allegedly siphoned off funds into risky loans or real estate investments. The amount defrauded by them is expected to go further up as auditors are still collecting details and recovering data deleted from the credit society’s computers, said officials.

“The depositors held several meetings with the office-bearers gave them six months to recover loans and return their money. Later, after the society failed to refund their money, they approached us,” said a police officer. The case was registered in August last year, and the accused were booked under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments Act, 1999.

Amit Bhalerao was arrested from Fort while Ashish Bhalerao was arrested from the Saat Rasta area in Mumbai, said a police officer. The duo had deleted data and changed passwords on the credit society’s computers, and their arrest was necessary to unearth the truth, said he added.