On Sunday, Mumbai Police arrested Dharmesh Paun, private developer from Kandivali, in connection with the New India Cooperative Bank scam (NICB). According to the police, Paun allegedly received illicit funds from the bank’s General Manager and Account Head, Hitesh Mehta, who was also arrested Saturday.
The scam was uncovered during an audit at the bank’s headquarters in Prabhadevi last Wednesday, when RBI officials discovered funds missing from the vault. Mehta, who has been with the bank since 1988, reportedly confessed to RBI officials that he had been siphoning cash from the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon NICB branches since the pandemic.
On Friday, two days prior to the arrests, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restrictions on NICB withdrawals, causing panic among depositors who rushed to withdraw their savings but were denied access. The RBI also dissolved the bank’s board for a year and appointed an administrator (former State Bank of India Chief General Manager Shri Shreekant) to oversee its operations, citing concerns about the bank’s financial health.
Also on Friday, in other India news, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency announced the cancellation of a $21 million US government fund meant to “support voter turnout in India.” Details of the fund weren’t shared but questions about election interference have been raised.
The day following the arrests, at least 18 people were killed and fifteen injured in a stampede that broke out at the New Delhi Railway Station, according to The Hindu and other multiple sources.
