New India Cooperative Bank case: Police get nod to attach properties

A Mumbai court has allowed the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police to attach 21 properties worth Rs 167.85 crore of five accused in the alleged case of embezzlement at the New India Cooperative Bank case, the officials said, reported the PTI.

The EOW which is probing the case has started the process of attachment after receiving a magistrate court`s nod on Wednesday, said an official.

It is one of the first such instance in the city after the new criminal laws came into force that the court allowed Mumbai Police to attach properties in the case of embezzlement at the New India Co-operative Bank, according to the PTI.

These properties include a Slum Rehabilitation Project worth Rs 150 crore at Charkop, being developed by builder Dharmesh Paun, one of the arrested accused, as per the PTI.

This would be the first such action under section 107 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in Mumbai city, the EOW official said.

The section allows the police to attach any property “derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of a criminal activity”.

In response to the EOW`s application, the court allowed the attachment of 21 properties including seven flats, a shop and a bungalow of Hitesh Mehta, a former general manager of the bank, he said, the news agency reported on Thursday.

Other properties include a shop of Unnahalathan Arunachalam, a flat owned by accused Kapil Dedia and property in Bihar belonging to businessman Javed Azam including a shop and a flat in Madhubani and a flat in Patna, the official said, the PTI reported.

All these persons are among the eight accused arrested by the Mumbai Police`s EOW for alleged embezzlement of Rs 122 crore from the bank.

The EOW had arrested Mumbai BJP leader Hyder Azam`s brother, Javed Azam last month.

The officials had earlier said that Haji Javed Azam, the younger brother of BJP’s former Maharashtra secretary Hyder Azam, was arrested in the matter.

Azam was taken into custody after his name surfaced during the interrogation of Unnathan Arunachalam, alias Arun Bhai, who was earlier arrested in the case.

(with PTI inputs)