MUMBAI, June 28 -- The Esplanade metropolitan magistrate's court has rejected the bail plea of three individuals arrested in connection with the alleged embezzlement of Rs.122 crore from the cash reserves of the New India Cooperative Bank. The court rejected the plea of businessman Manohar Arunachalam, civil contractor Kapil Dedhia and Raviranjan Pandey from Bokaro in Jharkhand, all of them are accused of receiving the proceeds of crime from the main accused, Hitesh Mehta, 57, general manager of the bank. The court observed that if released on bail, they may tamper with prosecution evidence and create difficulties in the ongoing forensic audit. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police told the court that Arunachalam along with his father Unnathan received Rs.15 crore from Mehta and used it to purchase a shop. Likewise, Dedhia received around Rs.6 crore of the embezzled money from Mehta, they submitted. Several sums were transferred to other accused such as Ganesh Banjo Plast, Techmen Fest, Shravan Dhurve. Pandey acted as a middleman, transferring the cash from Mehta to other accused, argued the EOW, adding that he also received around Rs.90 lakh as part of the crime proceeds. Arunachalam's advocate submitted that no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody as he is not involved in the present crime. Dedhia's advocate argued that he was wrongly implicated in the matter, claiming his relationship with Mehta was civil in nature as he carried out renovation work at his residence. Pandey alleged that his wife was receiving treatment for a major depressive disorder. "The role of the present accused has been clearly put forth by the investigating officer," said the court. "Apparently, the charge sheet clearly carves out the role of this accused in the overall crime. It cannot be stated that the Investigating officer rushed to file a charge sheet without proper details." It said the offence alleged is serious and involves large sums of money....