The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Kapil Wadhawan, Chairman and Managing Director of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), in connection with a money-laundering probe against late gangster Iqbal Mirchi andothers.
The names of Wadhawans had figured in connection with the sale of three properties of Iqbal Mirchi to a front company Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd allegedly linked to them.
The ED had earlier in the day called Kapil Wadhawan for questioning. Once he arrived at the ED office, he was arrested in connection with an ongoing investigations launched against late Mirchi under the Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd.
It may be recalled that the name of Dheeraj Wadhawan, younger brother of Kapil Wadhawan, had come up during interrogation of the arrested accused Ranjeet Singh Bindra and Humayun Merchant.
Bindra had allegedly brokered a deal of three properties at Worli in sout-central Mumbai to Iqbal Mirchi. The properties were sold to a company named Sunblink Real Estate belonging to Sunny Bhatija who is Dheeraj’s brother-in-law.
The allegation against Wadhwans is that DHFL had allegedly extended loans to Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd, which purportedly routed money to Mirchi who died in the UK in August 2013. Wadhawan had reportedly gave a loan worth over Rs 2,000 crore on the three properties sold to Sunblink Real Estate.
The ED had begun investigation into Mirchi’s assets in the city on the basis of eight cases of narcotics smuggling and extortion registered against him since 1985.
The investigations have revealed that in 1986, Mirchi had purchased three properties from Mohammad Yusuf Trust (MYT) for Rs 6.5 lakh through his company M/s Rockside Enterprises. These properties — Sea View, Marium Lodge and Rabia Mansion — were bought using the proceeds of crime.
Since Mirchi subsequently left the country and was declared a proclaimed offender, the properties were confiscated by the Mumbai police under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act (SAFEMA).
In the court battle that followed, MYT alleged that the properties still belonged to them and not Mirchi. The court then handed over the properties to the trust in
2005.
Subsequently in 2010, Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd had bought the three properties from the then Dubai-based Mirchi him and later developed them. Mirchi allegedly signed agreements in 2010 in which he received 90 million dirham for the development rights to these properties. All these are allegedly proceeds of crime.
With Kapil Wadhawan’s arrest, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to five. Earlier, the ED had arrested Haroun Yusuf and Humayun Merchant, two alleged aides of Mirchi, Ranjeet Bindra and Rinku Deshpande. While Bindra is a broker, it was Deshpande who paid the commission to the former (Bindra).
The ED has named Iqbal Mirchi and his family members, and Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd and its directors as accused.
The ED is investigating the loan of Rs 2,000 crore extended that DHFL had allegedly extended as loan to Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd. The investigating agency suspects that the proceeds of the properties were laundered and used for terror financing.
The ED had questioned Dheeraj Wadhawan ailais Baba Dewan of Dheeraj Reality Non Executive Director of the DHFL in November last year. A day before Dheeraj was questioned, Kapil Wadhawan had also visited the ED’s Mumbai office and submitted the documents relating to the three deals.