Overview
- The Enforcement Directorate, which announced action on Wednesday, provisionally attached 33 properties under the anti–money laundering law that it says belong to Hiren and Gauri Bhanu and their family.
- Officials said the assets include bank balances, fixed deposits, residential flats, a commercial office, and agricultural land identified as suspected proceeds of crime.
- The probe began after Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing filed a case alleging Rs 122 crore was siphoned from the bank’s cash vaults through fake inter-branch cash transfer entries and other record tampering.
- Investigators said former general manager Hitesh Mehta admitted to repeated cash withdrawals and acted on directions from Hiren Bhanu, with the couple allegedly receiving at least Rs 26 crore.
- The ED says funds were also funneled into businesses acquired abroad without payment through accounts of Indian borrowers, while charge sheets, non-bailable warrants, and proclamation proceedings target key accused who are believed to be outside India as the bank has since been merged into Saraswat to protect depositors.