Ninth arrest in New India Cooperative Bank embezzlement case

The arrested accused is Pawan Amarsingh Jaiswal, 47. He had conspired with two other arrested accused – Ajay Singh Rathod and Rajeev Ranjan Pandey

MUMBAI:An absconding accused in connection with the alleged embezzlement of ₹122 crore from cash reserves of New India Cooperative Bank was arrested from Lucknow by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Saturday. Police said the accused works as a building material supplier and made away with ₹3.5 crore from the kickbacks.

Ninth arrest in New India Cooperative Bank embezzlement case

The arrested accused is Pawan Amarsingh Jaiswal, 47. He had conspired with two other arrested accused – Ajay Singh Rathod and Rajeev Ranjan Pandey. “The three had taken ₹15 crore from Hitesh Mehta, the general manager of accounts of New India Cooperative Bank,” said a police officer. Mehta, 57, was the first person to be arrested in the bank after he confessed to siphoning off ₹122 crore from the bank over some time. The EOW subsequently arrested seven other accused and attached immovable properties worth ₹167 crore.

“They allegedly told Mehta that they could not only convert black money into white money by investing it in various charitable organisations but also give him ₹22 crore in return,” the officer added. However, Jaiswal instead made away with ₹3.5 crore out of the ₹15 crore.

Jaiswal hailed from Jharkhand and was residing in Lucknow at the time of his arrest. After receiving a tip-off that he had recently reached his house in Lucknow, a team headed by senior inspector Dnyaneshwar Awari picked him up from there. “We have got his transit remand till July 7 and will produce him in a Mumbai court by Monday,” said an EOW officer.

The EOW probe began after a surprise audit by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials on February 12. The audit revealed that ₹122 crore was missing from the bank’s cash reserves from the cash vault at its Prabhadevi branch, and around ₹10 crore missing at its Goregaon branch.