Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has said the State police has written to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informing them that the quarantine period of Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), and their family members was ending at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, and that the agencies can arrest the accused.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mr. Deshmukh said, “Their teams can come at any time after 2 p.m. and take the accused into custody. Till then, the State police will keep a watch on them.”
Unlike earlier incidents, where the accused in various cases would often escape to foreign countries, the Maharashtra police will not let anyone escape from the school where the Wadhawans and their family members have been kept, he said.
On April 9, the Wadhawans, along with 21 family members, were stopped at Mahabaleshwar where they had arrived from Khandala, on a pass issued by Amitabh Gupta, Principal Secretary (Special) of the Home Department. Mr. Gupta was sent on compulsory leave and an enquiry was ordered against him.
Both the Wadhawans are accused in the Yes Bank and DHFL fraud cases. The ED had recently issued summons against them in the Yes Bank case and had asked them to appear before them on March 17.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had accused the State government of helping the accused during the lockdown.
Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya went a step further, and said Mr. Deshmukh was “taking the credit for nothing”. He said he had checked with the ED and CBI, and the Wadhawans were anyway due to be arrested as soon as their quarantine ended.
