PMLA court sends Wadhawan brothers to judicial custody till June 11

Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), were produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday, which sent the brothers to judicial custody till June 11.

The Wadhawan brothers were arrested by the ED in connection with the Yes Bank fraud case on May 14, after a single judge bench of the Bombay High Court refused to grant them anticipatory bail saying their custodial interrogation was needed.

ED officials told the special PMLA court that case involved examination of voluminous documents which needed to be put forth before the accused to understand the intricacies of the fraud, and also informed the court that the Wadhawans were not cooperating with the investigations.

The Wadhawan brothers have been accused of paying a kickback of ₹600 crore to Rana Kapoor, former managing director and chief executive officer of Yes Bank, in the form of a loan to a firm DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd. floated by Mr. Kapoor in the name of his daughter by showing overvalued properties as mortgages. Yes Bank in turn had invested ₹3,700 crore in short-term debentures in DHFL which has not been redeemed till date.

ED had presented the case details before the HC which had rejected their anticipatory bail and noted that the Wadhawans had entered into a “deep rooted conspiracy” with Mr. Kapoor and his family members.

The high court had observed that only the Wadhawans could throw light on the financial transaction, and the conspiracy could be cracked only through their interrogation.