PMC Bank Scam: Bail plea of HDIL promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan rejected

After testing positive for coronavirus, the bail application for Rakesh Wadhawan and son Sarang Wadhawan has been rejected by the court. Both of them are the promoters of the now-defunct real estate company HDIL. The father-son duo is the main accused in the PMC bank scam.

The hearing was held in a special court on Tuesday evening. Public prosecutors Hiten Venegaonkar and Sunil Gonsalves, that were representing Enforcement Directorate (ED), opposing the bail plea had stated that they were involved in a major financial fraud, losses of which run in thousands of crores. Following which the bail application was rejected. 

Rakesh Wadhawan and son Sarang Wadhawan are currently being held at the Arthur Jail. After testing positive for coronavirus Rakesh Wadhawan had been admitted to JJ hospital. Later he was shifted to GT hospital, where prison inmates who test positive are being admitted. Wadhawan Sr had also put another request plea before the special court seeking to be shifted to a private hospital. In this appeal, he has mentioned that since he suffers from multiple medical conditions, he wants to get his treatment for COVID-19 from a private hospital. The decision on this plea is likely to be taken on Wednesday.

The fraud at PMC Bank first came to light when RBI in September 2019 found banking irregularities and imposed restrictions on the withdrawal limits. All account holders could only withdraw Rs 1,000 from the bank. However, with time RBI has eased out the withdrawal limit but the customers of the bank continue to hold protest against this move and want their hard-earned money back

Over a period of time, it was revealed how the cooperative bank had been hiding and misreporting of loan. It had also extended large loans to the real estate developer HDIL, following which the promoters of the group were taken in police custody along with the bank’s auditors and their Chairman S Waryam Singh.

Earlier in May 2020 too Rakesh had applied for interim bail on medical grounds. He had told the court that since he suffers from multiple medical conditions, he should be let out on bail. However, even then this plea was rejected.