Former bank GM Hitesh Mehta to face polygraph test in Rs 122 cr fraud

Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) will conduct a polygraph test on Tuesday on former New India Co-operative Bank general manager Hitesh Mehta, arrested in connection with the Rs 122-crore embezzlement at the lender, officials said on Monday.

The polygraph test, or lie detector test, will be conducted at the state-run Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Kalina in western suburbs, an official said. Mehta, who served as general manager and head of accounts at the fraud-hit lender, was arrested last month. He is the prime accused in the case related to alleged misappropriation of Rs 122 crore from the bank over a period of five years. A Mumbai court has granted permission to the EOW to conduct forensic psychological tests on Mehta as part of its investigation into the case, he said. So far, the EOW has arrested four persons and as many more have been named as wanted accused, including the bank's former chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife, ex-vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu, who fled abroad just before the scam came to light, according to the official. As per the police, Devarshi Ghosh, the bank's acting chief executive officer, lodged a complaint against Mehta and others at the Dadar police station last month for alleged misappropriation of the lender's funds.

Based on the complaint, the police registered a case and the probe was transferred to the EOW.

The complainant alleged that Mehta and his associates hatched a conspiracy and embezzled Rs 122 crore from the safes of Prabhadevi and Goregaon offices (in Mumbai) of the bank.

A case under sections 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust by public servants, bankers, and others in positions of trust) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered.