Mumbai: A special CBI court in the city, on Friday, extended the CBI custody of Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the Yes Bank multicrore scam by another seven days till May 8 after the agency told the court that there are 150 shell companies the brothers control that need probe.
The agency, seeking their custody for another seven days, also told the court that Rana Kapoor’s family has 80 bank accounts, which too need to be investigated for their connection, if any, in the money trail in the scam.
It maintained that Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan –promoters of Dewan Housing and Finance Limited (DHFL), which is at the centre of the scam– are not cooperating in the probe.
Arguing against their continued custody with the agency, their advocate Subodh Desai told the court that a shorter remand was acceptable and that the Wadhawans don’t need to be in custodial interrogation for the grounds given by the CBI.
Special CBI judge SU Wadgaonkar noted in his order that 150 shell companies are to be probed and that the previous two-day custody has been insufficient, as a day is spent in court proceedings, and remanded the duo in CBI custody till May 8.
The Wadhawans have been in CBI custody since April 27 after being arrested the previous day. Friday’s was their third production for further custody since their arrest. The agency had arrested the duo from Mahabaleshwar on April 26, where they had gone on April 8 with 21 members of their family violating the nationwide lockdown.
Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan are accused in the Yes bank scam, where the bank is alleged to have made a Rs 3,700 crore investments in DHFL, of which the duo are promoters, in return for kickbacks of Rs 600 crore to its founder and ex-CEO Rana Kapoor, a key accused in the fraud.
