The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Dheeraj Wadhawan, the former director of the housing finance company DHFL, in a Rs 34,000-crore bank fraud case, officials said on Tuesday.
Wadhawan was arrested in Mumbai on Monday and was produced before a special court in Delhi on Tuesday, which subsequently sent the businessman to judicial custody.
According to the central probe agency’s charges, Dheeraj Wadhawan and his brother Kapil allegedly defrauded a consortium of 17 banks to the tune of Rs 34,000 crore, making it the biggest banking loan fraud in the country.
They were earlier arrested in the case in July 2022 and were charge-sheeted by the CBI in the same year. However, they were granted “statutory” bail from the special court in December 2022. This order was upheld by the Delhi High Court as well.
The Supreme Court, upon the CBI’s appeal, set aside the bail orders, noting that the Special Court as well as the High Court “committed a serious error of law.”
During his term with DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan served as the Chairman and Managing Director, while Dheeraj Wadhawan was a non-executive director. Both brothers were members of DHFL’s administrative board.
Meanwhile, last Saturday, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in response to Dheeraj Wadhawan’s bail application on medical grounds.
Dheeraj Wadhawan, meanwhile, got interim bail in a separate matter on medical grounds from the Bombay High Court as he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital for treatment. The Bombay High Court regularised the bail in that case on May 2 and also extended his protection from CBI arrest for one week.
The charges against Wadhawan brothers include 120-B (criminal conspiracy to commit an offence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 477A (Falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13 (1) and (2) (Criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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