Eighth arrest made in New India Cooperative Bank case

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has made another arrest in the New India Cooperative Bank fraud case. They detained a 45-year-old man named Rajeev Ranjan Pandey in Jharkhand. This is the eighth arrest related to the case. Pandey is accused of being a beneficiary in the bank's money siphoning scheme. Reports indicate he received around ₹15 crore from the total ₹122 crore that was taken from the bank. Police say they apprehended him after questioning another suspect, Unnathan Arunachalam. Unnathan, a businessman who deals with solar panels, reportedly got about ₹50 crore from the main accused, Hitesh Mehta, who is the bank's General Manager of accounts. It is believed that Unnathan paid ₹15 crore to Pandey from this amount. Pandey is known for running money doubling schemes, and police are investigating why he accepted this money. Additionally, police plan to conduct a brain mapping test on Hitesh Mehta after his lie detector test showed deceptive results. Meanwhile, Haji Javed Azam, related to a former BJP official, has been arrested and reportedly owns eight electronic stores in Bihar. Two former chairpersons of the bank, Gauri and Hiren Bhanu, are still on the run. They insist they are innocent and claim that Hitesh Mehta was the mastermind behind the scam.