Former director of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), Dheeraj Wadhawan, found himself in judicial custody following his appearance before a special court in Delhi on Tuesday. Wadhawan’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is linked to a substantial bank fraud case amounting to Rs 34,000 crore.
Officials reported that Wadhawan was apprehended in Mumbai on Monday evening and presented in court the following day. This isn’t his first encounter with legal proceedings; he was previously charged by the CBI in 2022 in connection with the same case. Additionally, Wadhawan had faced arrest in the Yes Bank corruption case before, though he had been out on bail, as noted by officials.
The DHFL case, according to authorities, revolves around an alleged consortium bank fraud totaling Rs 34,000 crore, marking it as one of the largest banking loan scams in the country’s history.
The investigation into the Wadhawans centers on accusations of deceiving a consortium of 17 banks to the tune of Rs 34,615 crore. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) highlighted that the genesis of the money laundering case lies in the FIR filed by the CBI.
In their statement, the ED outlined that both Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, along with other implicated individuals, conspired to defraud the consortium of banks, primarily led by Union Bank of India (UBI). The agency alleged that, as part of this conspiracy, Kapil Wadhawan and associates convinced the consortium banks to grant substantial loans amounting to Rs 42,871.42 crore.
Investigations revealed that the accused parties embezzled a significant portion of these funds by manipulating DHFL’s financial records and intentionally defaulted on repayment to the consortium banks. This maneuver resulted in a staggering loss of Rs 34,615 crore to the consortium lenders.
