Yes Bank scam: DHFL promoters Kapil, Dheeraj Wadhawan arrested by CBI from quarantine facility
The two brothers will be produced before a special CBI court in Mumbai.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday arrested Dewan Housing Finance Limited’s promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan from a coronavirus quarantine facility in Mahabaleshwar town of Satara district in Maharashtra, PTI reported.
The two brothers, who are accused in the Yes Bank and DHFL fraud cases, were arrested with the help of district authorities through a non-bailable warrant, CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said. The Wadhawans will be produced before a special CBI court in Mumbai, he said.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had said the CBI had taken them into custody and the “arrest procedures” were going on.
On April 22, the Maharashtra government had told the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate that they can arrest Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan as their coronavirus quarantine has come to an end. However, the next day, a court in Mumbai granted the two brothers protection from arrest till April 27 in the Yes Bank fraud case, The Hindu reported.
Earlier this month, the Wadhawans were caught violating the coronavirus lockdown in Mahabaleshwar. Maharashtra Home Department Principal Secretary Amitabh Gupta had issued a special pass to the Wadhawans to travel from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar for a “family emergency”.
Deshmukh said that the government will soon submit a report on the inquiry against Gupta.
In March, the CBI had issued a lookout circular against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and his family, who are accused of receiving Rs 600 crore in kickbacks from DHFL. The investigative agency had also issues circulars against the Wadhawan brothers.
According to the case filed by the agency, Yes Bank invested around Rs 3,700 crore in DHFL around the same time it granted a Rs 600-crore loan to a company called DoIT Urban Ventures Private Limited, owned by Rana Kapoor’s three daughters. The CBI has alleged that Kapoor, in criminal conspiracy with Kapil Wadhawan and others, had invested in DHFL through Yes Bank to gain undue benefits for himself and his family. The agency also said that Yes Bank sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to RKW Developers Private Limited, which is a DHFL group company.
Last month, the Wadhawans had skipped summons by the Enforcement Directorate for the third time in the money laundering investigation against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and others, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. The brothers had claimed that their health was more important than the summons.