Mumbai, Apr 9 A Mumbai court on Thursday refused bail to Hitesh Mehta, former General Manager of New India Cooperative Bank arrested in a Rs 122 crore scam at the bank, and described him as the prime accused in the case.
The court noted that long incarceration cannot be a ground to grant bail to an accused in economic offences as trial in such cases take time to conclude.
Mehta, former General Manager and Head of Accounts at the bank, is the prime suspect in the alleged misappropriation of funds from the lender's reserves over a period of five years.
Additional Sessions Iudge Vikram Jagdale, who heard the bail plea, noted that on perusal of the chargesheet in the case and police report it was clear that Mehta, who is in jail for more than a year, is the prime accused.
The former GM had prepared forged and false electronic records which included debit note and valuable bank bonds in order to siphon amounts to the tune of about Rs 122 crore, the court said in its order while rejecting his bail plea.
On the contention of long incarceration, the court acknowledged that Mehta has been in jail since February 2025.
But the court remarked that it cannot be a ground to grant bail as "one cannot lose sight of the fact that in economic offenses it takes time to commence and conclude a trial when there are numerous accused and witnesses".
Further the court cannot overlook the nature, magnitude and amount involved in the offence, the judge said.
The case came to light following an inspection by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officers at the bank's Prabhadevi office in central Mumbai.
Initially, the officers questioned a short cash amount of Rs 112 crore at Prabhadevi, which later escalated to Rs 122 crore missing from the custody of the bank, including a shortfall found at the Goregaon office.
Mehta was arrested following allegations that he, along with his associates, orchestrated the embezzlement of funds from the bank.
