Court extends CBI custody of Wadhawan brothers

DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj will be in CBI custody till May 1for their alleged role in Yes Bank scam

A special lockdown court on Wednesday extended CBI’s custody of DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj till May 1. The agency, which had previously been granted custody till April 29, is questioning the brothers over their alleged role in the multi-crore Yes Bank scam involving Rana Kapoor.

According to the CBI, Yes Bank made investments to the tune of Rs 3,700 crore in DHFL’s short term debentures between April and June 2018. The agency has claimed that the Wadhawans paid Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor a kickback of Rs 600 crore in the form of loans extended to DoIT Urban Ventures Private Limited, which was allegedly run by Kapoor’s family members.

The Wadhawans, who were on a holiday in Mahabaleshwar in the middle of the lockdown, had a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against them by a special court on March 17. Nearly a month later on April 18, their lawyers managed to convince a court to stay the execution of that warrant until May 5, pleading that they should not be arrested during the lockdown.

Last Saturday, a special lockdown court vacated the previous April 18 order staying the non-bailable warrant after the CBI argued that both the accused were absconding since the beginning of the investigation and had evaded joining the investigation, despite the NBW issued against them in March.

The Wadhawan brothers had previously moved the court for bail during the remand hearing. At the time, the court had held that the application was not maintainable as they were in agency’s custody and that they may request for bail once they are remanded in judicial custody. The CBI had, in the past, issued six summons to the Wadhawans to appear before the agency between March 10 and March 16.

The agency claimed that these summons were not complied with. The brothers had sought “accommodation” from the agency, as they were travelling due to “Kapil Wadhwan’s health reasons”, citing travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

Mirror had previously reported that the brothers were arrested from their Mahabaleshwar residence on Sunday by the CBI, who were assisted by the Satara police which had booked them under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code and the Disaster Management Act.

They were under home isolation after their 14-day quarantine in Panchgani ended last Thursday. — MUMBAI MIRROR BUREAU