Mumbai, Feb 26 – The Prabhadevi branch of New India Cooperative Bank had a cash storage capacity of ₹10 crore, yet a recent inspection by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed that ₹122.028 crore was recorded in the safe, according to police reports. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police is investigating the alleged embezzlement of ₹122 crore from the bank and has arrested three individuals, including two former senior executives.
During the RBI’s inspection on February 11, it was discovered that ₹122 crore was unaccounted for in the safe. The balance sheet indicated that the total cash at the Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches was ₹133.41 crore, with ₹122.028 crore specifically attributed to the Prabhadevi branch on that date. The EOW’s investigation revealed that the actual cash capacity of the corporate office’s safe was only ₹10 crore, and only ₹60 lakh was found in the vault. At the Goregaon branch, ₹10.53 crore was located, despite the safe also having a capacity of ₹10 crore.
The EOW is currently examining why auditors did not flag the missing cash during their reviews of the bank’s financial records. Various chartered accounting firms were responsible for auditing the bank’s balance sheets and cash reports from 2019 to 2024, the period during which the alleged embezzlement occurred. The initial audit was conducted by M/s Sanjay Rane Associates, and one of its partners, Abhijeet Deshmukh, has been questioned by the EOW for several days. Another partner, Sanjay Rane, has also been summoned for a statement.
Representatives from all auditing firms associated with the bank are being called in to provide their accounts starting Wednesday. The EOW may pursue a forensic audit of the bank’s financial records to determine how the ₹122 crore was misappropriated. Abhimanyu Bhoan, the bank’s former CEO and one of the three arrested, had signed all audit reports and balance sheets, indicating his awareness of the cash in the bank’s vaults. Alongside Bhoan, former general manager Hitesh Mehta and real estate developer Dharmesh Paun have also been apprehended in connection with the case.
