New India Co-op Bank fraud: Ex-chairperson Hiren Bhanu named as accused, one more arrest

MUMBAI: Hiren Bhanu and wife Gauri, former chairperson and vice-chairperson of New India Cooperative Bank, respectively, have been named as accused in the case relating to the alleged misappropriation of ₹122 crore from the scheduled cooperative bank’s cash reserves. The fraud surfaced earlier this month.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police investigating the case says that Hiren and Gauri Bhanu were beneficiaries of the funds misappropriated by the main accused, Hitesh Mehta, general manager of the bank.

Police said Hiren’s father Ranjit – a lawyer, trade unionist and a former MLA – was one of the founders of the bank. They said Hiren, a British national, is suspected to have fled the country on January 26, 2025, and is in Abu Dhabi.

EOW officials on Friday also arrested one more person in the case, taking the number of arrests to four. They also secured the court’s permission to conduct a lie-detector test on the main accused, Hitesh Mehta.

The latest arrest is that of Manohar Arunachalam, who had allegedly received part of the misappropriated money, and is the son of absconding accused Unnanathan Arunachalam. Police have announced a reward for information on Unnanathan, a businessman in the solar panels industry.

Manohar Arunachalam was produced in court on Friday as was Abhimanyu Bhoan, former chief executive officer (CEO) of the bank, who was arrested earlier. They were produced before additional chief judicial magistrate RB Thakur for remand.

The EOW told the court that Bhoan was CEO of the bank when prime accused Hitesh Mehta, general manager of the bank, allegedly siphoned ₹122 crore from the cash reserves of the scheduled bank. Bhoan was also an alleged beneficiary of the fraud and received ₹1 crore from the misappropriated funds.

Police investigations also revealed that Bhoan was in touch with Hiren and Gauri Bhanu after the fraud surfaced and after the couple left the country. He, however, claims the phone he had used to contact the Bhanus, which constitutes crucial evidence in the case, was either lost or broken.

The court was also told that Manohar and his father, Unnanathan Arunachalam, had received ₹40 crore from Mehta – ₹15 crore in May 2019, ₹18 crore in August 2019 and ₹7 crore subsequently. “We suspect that Arunachalam and Manohar also helped Mehta turn black money into white money as they transferred ₹20 lakh into Mehta’s bank account and we are checking bank transactions further,” police told the court.

“They are catching small fry,” claimed Bhoan’s lawyer before the court. “My client has been in police custody for the last seven days. He has been cooperating with investigators.”

EOW officials responded, saying they have named Hiren Bhanu and his wife Gauri, former chairperson and former vice-chairman of the bank, respectively, as accused in the case. The officer told the court that Hiren had left for Abu Dhabi on January 26, while Gauri left on February 10, and their sons Kunal and Karan went overseas on February 14. All of them are residents of Nepean Sea Road.

“Bhanu has surrendered his Indian citizenship and is a British national now. His father Ranjit Bhanu was a well-known lawyer and a founder of the bank. He was also an MLA from Colaba in 1978 and won on a Janata Party ticket,” said a police officer. A Lookout Circular has been issued against Bhanu and his wife.

Police also said that Mehta, who had earlier claimed he had transferred ₹70 crore to bank accounts of builder Dharmesh Paun, had admitted that he also gave ₹28 crore to Bhanu, an additional ₹42 crore to Paun, ₹40 crore to Unnanathan Arunachalam, and kept ₹10 crore for himself.

Meanwhile, the magistrate’s court has allowed an application submitted by the EOW to conduct a lie-detector test on Hitesh Mehta, who the suspect is not revealing exactly how he disbursed the ₹122 crore that he spirited away in cash from the bank’s vaults.