EOW arrests contractor in New India bank misappropriation case | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has arrested a fifth accused in the New India Cooperative Bank misappropriation case. The police identified the accused as Kapil Kalyanji Dedhia, 45, a civil contractor who was close to the main accused in the case, the arrested general manager (accounts) of the bank, Hitesh Mehta. Dedhia was arrested from Vadodara in Gujarat.

The police said the civil contractor allegedly received around ₹12 crore out of the ₹122 crore purportedly siphoned off from the bank. He was a resident of Anand Nagar in Dahisar where he lived in the same building as Mehta.

“However, he was on the run and had visited Kutch and Vadodara in Gujarat and Jaipur in Rajasthan. He was continuously changing locations. Finally, we picked him up from Vadodara. A team from DCB police station in Gujarat helped us,” said a EOW officer.

Dedhia was produced in court which remanded him to police custody till March 19.

Police suspect Dedhia has received around ₹12 crore of the money that had been siphoned off from the bank. “We want to question him to find out what he had done with the money. We suspect he had given some money back to Mehta after keeping his cut. He had also purchased some properties,” said a police officer.

A Look Out Circular (LOC) had been issued against Dedhia by the EOW after his complicity in the case came to light.

His is the fourth arrest in the case. Police are still searching for Gauri Bhanu, Hiren Bhanu and Unnanathan Arunachalam against whom LOCs have been issued. While police suspect the Bhanu family has fled abroad, Unnanathan is believed to be still in the country, hiding somewhere. His son, Manohar, has already been arrested by the agency.

“We have till now arrested Mehta, CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan, developer Dharmesh Paun and Manohar Arunachalam in the case,” said the officer.