Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s economic offences wing (EOW) has searched the residence of New India Cooperative Bank’s former chairman Hiren Bhanu in connection with the embezzlement of Rs 122 crore at the lender, officials said on Wednesday.

EOW Recovers Several Documents

During the search, EOW recovered several documents, which police are examining, an official said.

The house search was conducted in the Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai, where Hiren Bhanu and his wife Gauri Bhanu stayed in a rented flat, an official said. Gauri previously held the position of vice chairman at the bank.

The couple also own a flat at Nepean Sea Road which they have rented out, an official said. Both are wanted accused in the Rs 122-crore embezzlement case.

The EOW team is identifying the couple’s properties and also ascertaining whether they were acquired with the proceeds of the crime, he said.

About The Lie Detector Test

Meanwhile, the agency will conduct a lie detector test on Hitesh Mehta, former general manager and head of the accounts of the bank, on March 11, the official said.

Mehta is not cooperating and is hiding some important facts concerning the case, due to which he has not given his consent for the test, he said. But the court has permitted the police to conduct the forensic psychological test on Mehta, the official said.

The EOW is probing what prompted the Reserve Bank of India’s inspection team to visit the bank in February 2025.

As per the balance sheets of the bank, as of March 31, 2019, it had Rs 33.71 crore in cash which rose to Rs 99 crore on March 31, 2020. It’s almost a three-fold jump, he said.

On March 31, 2021, the figure further increased to 194 crore and it was Rs 105 crore in 2022. At some point in the current financial year, the amount rose to even Rs 152 crore. Police are examining why the RBI team conducted an inspection last month and not in some of the previous years, the official said.

So far, police have arrested four persons in connection with the embezzlement, and four accused are still at large, he added.

Mumbai: Four police constables attached to Dharavi Police Station were suspended on Thursday after a video of them allegedly accepting bribes from hawkers surfaced on social media.

According to officials, the suspended constables were deployed as beat marshals on patrolling vehicles, responsible for taking action against illegal roadside eateries and food stalls. However, instead of enforcing the law, they were caught on camera extorting money from hawkers.

Following the video’s viral spread, senior police officials initiated an internal inquiry and ordered their immediate suspension.

Kolkata, March 6: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials probing the cash-for-school-job case in West Bengal will now question some influential persons who directly recommended ineligible candidates to the former state education minister Partha Chatterjee.

The CBI now has definite clues about the influential persons directly recommending ineligible candidates who were paying money for school jobs, to the former Trinamool Congress secretary general.

Sources said that the investigating officers have a list of 132 such individuals who made job recommendations at different levels.

However, sources added, the sleuths are shortlisting only those who had direct reach to Partha Chatterjee and hence made the recommendations directly to him.

The shortlisting of the individuals has been done on the basis of their communication with Partha Chatterjee through written recommendations or through WhatsApp and SMS messages.

However, the CBI sleuths are totally tightlipped over the names that have already been shortlisted till the process if completed and summons are issued to them for interrogation.

The investigating officials said that their statements would be extremely crucial to make the case more water-tight against Chatterjee.

The CBI sleuths have also got specific information about Chatterjee personally shortlisting ineligible candidate paying money for school jobs.

This personal shortlisting, sources added, was done more in case of selection of primary teachers than secondary and higher secondary teachers.

Recently, the CBI submitted a report to Calcutta High Court giving details of the candidates who secured appointments even after submitting blank answer sheets in the written examination for recruitment.

In the report, sources added, the central agency sleuths also provided explanation of how the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets used in the written examination were manipulated for such candidates.

Chatterjee, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the school job case in July 2022, has also been identified as the main brain behind the scam in the charge sheet filed by the central agency.

Besides him, his close associate Arpita Mukherjee and his son-in-law are among the other accused individuals, as mentioned in the ED’s charge sheet.

A trust titled Babli Chatterjee Memorial Trust, that has been named after Chatterjee’s deceased wife, is also named in the ED charge sheet as an accused entity.

It is alleged that the ill-gotten proceeds were shown as donations to this particular trust and thus diverted.