New India Cooperative Bank Scam: Dharmesh Paun Claims He Received ₹2 Crore From Hitesh Mehta, Returned ₹1.50 Crore

Mumbai: In a fresh twist to the New India Cooperative Bank ₹122 crore scam, accused Dharmesh Paun has claimed that he received ₹2 crore from main accused Hitesh Mehta, but later returned ₹1.50 crore. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) suspects that Paun misappropriated ₹70 crore for an SRA project in Kandivali’s Charkop area.

Investigators have raised concerns as Paun’s ₹300 crore SRA project is on collector’s land, and he has not secured a bank loan due to land ownership restrictions. Typically, builders take loans for such projects, but EOW has found no loan-related documents in Paun’s possession.

In December 2016, Paun registered his company Dharmesh LLP and began the Charkop SRA project in 2018. In 2016, Paun sold a flat to Mehta, who later resold it to a third party. This marked the beginning of their association. Hitesh Mehta joined New India Cooperative Bank in 1988 as an accountant and has two children, one of whom is preparing for CA exams.

A senior EOW official has revealed that they plan to summon the bank’s internal and concurrent auditors. Eow has seized CCTV footage of last three weeks. The key question: How did Mehta siphon off ₹122 crore in small amounts over five years without auditors noticing?

Further suspicions arose when, on February 12, RBI officials conducted an inspection and discovered that ₹122 crore was missing from the bank’s locker.

However, instead of filing a complaint, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Devarsi Ghosh, lodged the FIR at Dadar Police Station. If RBI officials found discrepancies in the locker funds, why didn’t they file the complaint themselves? The investigation continues.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police is investigating the scam, which involves siphoning off ₹122 crore from the bank’s funds. Hitesh Mehta, the former General Manager and Head of Accounts, was arrested earlier for his alleged role in diverting the money to multiple beneficiaries.

In the ongoing probe into the ₹122 crore fraud at New India Cooperative Bank, key accused Hitesh Mehta has admitted to diverting ₹70 crore to Dharmesh Paun and ₹40 crore to Arunbhai. During interrogation, Mehta revealed that he had funded Paun’s SRA project in Charkop with ₹70 crore.

However, no official documentation exists to support this transaction. So EOW officer will retrieve the WhatsApp message history of both accused.

Meanwhile, Dharmesh Paun has denied receiving such a large sum and has instead claimed that he only took ₹2 crore from Mehta, out of which he returned ₹1.50 crore. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is investigating this conflicting narrative and verifying the financial trail.