Chargesheet filed in New India Co-op bank scam case; ex-chairman, wife remain untraceable

Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing, which is probing the Rs 122-crore New India Co-Operative Bank scam, has filed its chargesheet in the court, officials said on Wednesday.

According to the over 12,600-page chargesheet, the bank’s former chairman Hiten Bhanu and his wife Gauri Bhanu have been declared as proclaimed offenders, an official said. The couple has fled India.

Hiten and Gauri have been chargesheeted under section 335 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (record of evidence in absence of accused), he said, adding that EOW searched for the two for several days but they remained untraceable.

The EOW had arrested 8 persons, including former bank officials, a developer and private persons, while six persons were shown as wanted accused in the case, the official said.

The accused persons also include three internal auditors – chartered accountant Abhijeet Deshmukh, partner of Sanjay Rane and Associates, Laxminarayan Vyankatesh Nayak of Shinde Nayak and Associates and Subhash Mogal of S I Mogal and Company.

These individuals had audited the bank's books but did not raise any objection to the alleged scam.

EOW has recorded statements of 45 witnesses in the case and attached property of Rs 167 crore of the accused persons as part of the proceeds of crime, he said.

According to the police, Rs 122 crore was siphoned off from the safes of the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices in Mumbai.