New India Coop Bank: Ex-chairman Hiren Bhanu, wife declared offenders; cops to attach Rs 168 cr assets

Mumbai: A court in Mumbai has declared New India Cooperative Bank’s former chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife Gauri Bhanu as proclaimed offenders in connection with the Rs 122 crore embezzlement case, a police official said on Thursday.

The same magistrate’s court has also allowed the police to attach 21 properties, including a Rs 150-crore Slum Rehabilitation Project, worth Rs 167.85 crore of five accused in the case, marking the first such action in the city after the new criminal laws came into force.

The Bhanu couple fled the country separately, days before the embezzlement case came to light in February.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police, which is probing the case, has so far arrested eight persons, including the bank’s former general manager Hitesh Mehta and former CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan.

“The EOW had moved an application before the court seeking that Bhanu and his wife be declared as proclaimed offenders. The court has accepted the plea,” an official told PTI.

The court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against the duo, he said.

While Hiren Bhanu fled the country on January 26, his wife and the bank’s former vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu left on February 10, just a few days before the scam came to light.

“As both of them are out of the country, and finding their location was necessary for the probe, a Blue Corner Notice was issued against them earlier,” the official said.

Police have conducted polygraph and brain mapping tests on Mehta, who was arrested on February 15. The report of the brain mapping test is yet to be received, he said.

“During the investigation, the EOW decided to conduct a forensic audit in the case, and the process of appointing an auditor will be initiated soon,” he said.

In the probe, the EOW officials found that many of the loan accounts, classified as Non Performing Assets (NPA), were sold to one Omkara Assets Reconstruction Company (ARC).

“In some cases, the bank received a lesser amount from the company after selling the properties that were mortgaged for the actual loan amount,” the official said.

In one case, the NPA was of Rs 30 crore, but the bank received only Rs 2 to 3 crore from the ARC, he said.

EOW will call senior ARC officials to know the reasons behind receiving lesser amounts, the official said.

Meanwhile, the EOW has started the process after the city court on Wednesday allowed police to attach 21 properties worth Rs 167.85 crore of five accused in the alleged embezzlement, he said.

These properties include a Slum Rehabilitation Project worth Rs 150 crore at Charkop, being developed by builder Dharmesh Paun, one of the arrested accused, seven flats, a shop and a bungalow of Mehta.

This would be the first such action under section 107 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in Mumbai, the EOW official said. The section allows the police to attach any property “derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of a criminal activity”.

The other properties include a shop of Unnahalathan Arunachalam, a flat owned by Kapil Dedia and property in Bihar belonging to businessman Javed Azam, including a shop and a flat in Madhubani and a flat in Patna, the official said.

All these accused are among the eight persons arrested in the case so far.