In a major breakthrough, the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police on Friday arrested Manohar Arunachalam (33), son of Unnathan Arunachalam alias Arun Bhai, wanted accused in the case of embezzlement of Rs 122 crore from the vault of New India Cooperative Bank on Thursday night. Notably, Manohar was accused of helping his father escape and would be produced in the court on Friday.
On the other hand, Manohar’s father Unnanathan Arunachalam is accused of accepting Rs 40 crore from the prime accused and former general manager of the bank Hitesh Mehta.
Manohar had allegedly accepted Rs 15 crore from Mehta in 2019 and also contacted another person to help his father escape and stay off the police radar.
Earlier this week, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), probing the Rs 122-crore embezzlement at New India Cooperative Bank, summoned representatives of half a dozen firms that conducted audit of the fraud-hit lender at different times, officials said on Tuesday.
These financial services firms were involved in statutory, concurrent or internal audits during 2019-2024, the period when the alleged embezzlement took place, an official said.
As the initial audit of the lender was done by M/s Sanjay Rane Associates, a partner in the firm Abhijeet Deshmukh, is being quizzed by the EOW for the last four days.
Now, the probe agency has summoned another partner in the chartered accountancy firm, Sanjay Rane, to record his statement, the official said.
Besides Sanjay Rane Associates, the EOW had summoned M/s UG Devi and Company, M/S Gandhi and Associates LLP, M/s Shinde-Nayak and Associates, M/s Jain Tripathi and Company and M/s S I Mogul and Company, he said.
Representatives of these firms have been called from Wednesday onwards to record their statements, the official informed.
"If needed, the EOW will seek forensic audit of the bank's financial records to ascertain how Rs 122 crore was misappropriated," he said.
Bank's former CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan, who is among three persons arrested so far for the alleged fraud, had signed all audit reports and balance sheets of the bank, the official said. Bhoan was part of the conspiracy as he was aware how much cash was in the bank's vaults, he said.