The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has made the sixth arrest in the Rs 122-crore misappropriation case involving New India Co-operative Bank, after Arunachalam Ullahanathan Maruthuvar, who had remained at large, surrendered.

 

According to the police, the main accused, Hitesh Mehta, a former general manager of the bank, had stolen money from the bank’s safe between 2019 and 2025 and handed it over to Dharmesh Paun and Maruthuvar,who helped misappropriate the funds. 

 

While Mehta and Paun were arrested in February, Maruthuvar’s role was identified soon after the scam came to light, the police added.

 

The Investigating officer further said that the Maruthuvar received approximately Rs 30 crore from the misappropriated funds by Mehta who helped the main accused route the funds.

 

The police said that after the fraud was discovered during an RBI inspection at the bank’s Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches on February 12, Mehta confessed to the crime and revealed the roles of Paun and Maruthuvar.

 

 Accordingly, the EOW deployed multiple teams across various parts of India to trace him, but Maruthuvar himself then appeared and surrendered.

 

The court has granted him police custody until March 18 for further investigation,” a police officer said.

 

The other accused arrested in the case are the bank’s ex-CEO Ambhimanyu Bhoan, Maruthuvar’s son Manohar, and Kapil Dedhia. At least two others-former bank chairman Hiren Bhanu and his wife, vice-chairperson Gauri Bhanu-are wanted in the case.