Mumbai: EOW Probes ₹122 Crore New India Co-Operative Bank Scam

Mumbai, India: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is investigating a massive ₹122 crore scam at New India Co-Operative Bank, where accused Hitesh Mehta allegedly siphoned off depositor funds entirely in cash and re-lent them off the books to developers. Officials are struggling to trace the transactions due to the absence of digital records.

Mehta claims he lent ₹70 crore to SRA developer Dharmesh Paun and ₹40 crore to an absconding solar businessman, but Paun insists he received only ₹2 crore, which he later returned. Investigators are questioning how the scam went unnoticed despite annual internal and RBI audits. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed restrictions on the bank, which holds ₹2000 crore in depositor funds, raising concerns about the scam’s actual scale.

Authorities are now summoning the bank’s auditors and RBI’s audit panel for questioning. Meanwhile, the government is considering increasing the deposit insurance limit beyond the current ₹5 lakh, a move accelerated by this scandal.