Mumbai police arrest close aide of Cox Kings owner in Rs 400-crore bank fraud case

Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a close aide of the owner of tour and travel company Cox & Kings in connection with a Rs 400-crore fraud case involving Yes Bank, officials said on Friday.

Ajit Menon (67), a British national, was apprehended by a team of Mumbai police at Cochin airport in Kerala after he arrived from London on Tuesday, an official said.

A Look Out Circular had been issued against him, he said.

Menon was brought to Mumbai on Thursday morning and produced in a court, which remanded him in police custody till April 15, the official said.

According to the official, Menon was a close aide of Ajay Peter Kerkar, the owner of Cox and Kings.

Menon came on the EOW radar during the agency’s probe into the Rs 400-crore Yes Bank fraud case, which involved alleged diversion of money after availing a loan from the bank, the official said.

The money disbursed by Yes Bank was not used for the purpose for which they had obtained the loan, the official said.

During the probe, EOW found that Menon, who used to look after the company operations in Europe, had diverted Rs 56 crore to a UK-based company from the loan amount, the official said.

The EOW had in 2021 registered a case against Cox & Kings Financial Services Limited, a sister concern of tour and travel company Cox & Kings, for allegedly duping Yes Bank of Rs 400 crore.

The Cox and Kings Financial Services Limited was into providing foreign exchange business, holiday financing, student loans and other non-banking financial services.

The EOW had named company owner Kerkar, his wife, Menon and other individuals in the FIR, he said.