30-04-2025
Rs 122 crore embezzlement case: Bail plea of New India coop bank former CEO rejected
A magistrate court rejected the bail plea of Abhimanyu Bhoan, former CEO of New India Cooperative Bank, arrested in connection with alleged embezzlement of Rs 122 crore from the bank's safe.
The court said that although no amount has been recovered from him yet, the allegation against him is that he destroyed his old phone in a bid to erase evidence.
'Though yet no any amount is recovered from the accused but it is an allegation against him that he is using new mobile and (had) destroyed the previous mobile with a view to destroy evidence against him and the absconded main accused. The above conduct is sufficient to held that he is having involvement in the offence and investigation is yet to be ended. Moreover he was the CEO of the Bank and it is an allegation that he was well aware about the cash in hand in the Bank…,' the additional chief judicial magistrate said in the order passed on Monday, made available on Tuesday.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police had arrested Bhoan in February along with Hitesh Mehta, the former general manager of the bank, claiming that they illegally collected and deposited money in the bank and embezzled money in small amounts.
The police had claimed that Bhoan was given Rs 1 crore of the embezzled amount.
Bhoan, in his bail plea, said that there was no evidence against him other than the statement of Mehta and that he was falsely implicated. He also submitted that he had a salary of Rs 60 lakh per annum, and hence it is not possible that he would put at risk his family and himself over Rs 1 crore. He also submitted that he was not handling day to day affairs of the bank.
The police opposed the bail plea stating that Bhoan was aware of the fact that the cash retention limit of the bank for each branch had increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore.
The police also said that they had found documents belonging to Hiren Bhanu, former chairperson and his wife Gauri, former vice-chairperson of the bank, the two co-accused who are absconding, on Bhoan's laptop.
'…with the help of present accused the main accused Hiren Bhanu and Gauri Bhanu committed the offence therefore if he will be released on bail there is chances of his absconding and to destroy the evidence,' the court said.
