MUMBAI: A special court has refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Abhimanyu Bhoan, the former chief executive officer of the New India Cooperative Bank, in the loan fraud case involving the prominent entertainment, media and communications conglomerate, Percept Group. Bhoan is already under judicial custody in connection with the alleged embezzlement of ₹122 crore from the cash reserves of the cooperative bank.
As per the EOW (economic offences wing) of police, the group had allegedly obtained a loan of ₹77 crore from the bank, out of which ₹18.56 crore was waived by senior bank officials after receiving kickbacks.
As per the FIR, the directors of the bank allegedly accepted ₹6.37 crore in kickbacks for declaring the loan as a non-performing asset (NPA) and waiving ₹18.56 crore on the principal amount as well as on the due interest.
Bhoan’s advocate submitted that he had no role in waiving the loan since he had twice rejected the proposals made by the company to settle the loan under OTS scheme (one-time settlement). He alleged that the board of directors, who are in higher positions than Bhoan, changed the policy of OTS and waived the loans.
The court noted that Bhoan was the CEO of the bank when the fraud was committed. “Loan transaction of ₹49 crore was settled by the applicant and the board of directors of the bank for 34 crore and ₹18 crores waived, causing wrongful loss of such amounts to the bank,” observed special sessions judge NG Shukla, in an order passed on June 24.
The offence was committed between September 2014 and October 2023 when the loan was sanctioned to Percept Group without due diligence. It is alleged that the EOW found documents in Bhoan’s house while investigating the trail of bad loans extended by the bank.
As per the EOW, Bhoan, Hiren Bhanu (former chairperson of the bank) along with others fabricated bills in the name of a UK-based shell company and charged those sums, collectively amounting to ₹6.37 crore, to Percept. “Considering the nature of the transaction and relation of applicant with the directors of Percept Group with regard to submitting bills of a sports event, I am of the view that applicant is not entitled for interim relief,” said the court.
The EOW had arrested Bhoan in February this year after a surprise audit by the Reserve Bank of India revealed that ₹122 crore had been spirited away from the bank’s cash reserves. A metropolitan magistrate court had rejected his bail plea in May.