Hours before the institutional quarantine of DHFL group’s promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawans ended, the Maharashtra Government on Wednesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI to take custody of the Wadhawan brothers in connection with the scams they were involved in.
Addressing the people across the state through Facebook, State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said: “The Wadhawans’ quarantine will end at 2 pm today (April 22). Yesterday, we wrote a letter the ED and CBI and asked them to take custody of the Wadhawan brothers”.
“Till the ED and CBI take their custody, the Wadhawans will be in our custody. They have been there in quarantine in a high school for the last 15 days,” Deshmukh said.
“We will not allow them to flee the country as it happened in the case of other scam accused in the past. They are secure with us. We have told the ED and CBI to take the Wadhwan into custody and proceed against them in the scams they are involved in,” the minister said.
It may be recalled that on April 9, Kapil, Dheeraj and 21 members of their family were detained by the police at Panchgani on the night of April 9 while travelling in five cars from Khandala to another hill station of Mahabaleswar in Satara district of western Maharashtra. They were carrying with them a “To whomsoever it may concern” issued to them by Maharashtra’s Principal Secretary (Home) Amitabh Gupta on his personal head, permitting the Wadhawans and others to cross from Khandala in Pune to Mahabaleshwar in Satara.
“This is to just inform you that following are well known to me as they are my family friends and travelling from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar for family emergency… Hence you are here by informed through this letter to co-operate with them to reach their destination,” Gupta’s letter read.
After the incident came to light, as an embarrassed Uddhav Thackeray government on April 10 sent Gupta on ‘compulsory leave’ for allowing the scam-tainted Wadhawan brothers and their family members to travel from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar on Wednesday during the lockdown period.
Simultaneously, the Maharashtra government also asked senior IAS officer and Additional chief Secretary (Finance) Additional Chief Secretary Manoj Sonic to conduct an inquiry into the misuse of office allegedly indulged by Mr Gupta.
The Wadhawan brothers are linked to the Yes Bank and Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank scams. The large family owns the troubled entities - HDIL real estate development company and DHFL financial management company.