A metropolitan magistrate at Esplanade court on Wednesday sent Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) directors Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan and former Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank chairman Waryam Singh to judicial custody till October 23.
The three were in the custody of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police in connection with the alleged ₹ 4,355 crore fraud in the bank.
Later in the evening, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved a production warrant before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court to get the Wadhawans’ custody, which was granted by the court.
EOW officials had sought the custody of all the three accused for two more days, saying that new information was surfacing in the case every day and they needed to question the accused. However, defence lawyers opposed the application, saying the EOW had no concrete development to show, following which the magistrate sent the accused to judicial custody.
The Wadhawans will be produced in court on Thursday after the ED completes the procedure to get their custody from Arthur Road Jail.
The ED had registered an FIR on September 20 against HDIL, its directors, group companies and employees of the PMC Bank under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), read with Section 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. It said that the Wadhawans, in criminal conspiracy with PMC Bank officials including Mr. Singh and managing director Joy Thomas, availed loans of ₹4,355 crore in a fraudulent manner.
The ED subsequently conducted searches and attached movable and immovable assets worth more than ₹3,830 crore.
