HDIL's 44 accounts were masked by some PMC Bank staffers who tampered with the bank software, said EOW officer
HDIL directors Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan
The Economic Offences Wings (EOW) of the city police on Thursday arrested the directors of the real estate firm, HDIL, in connection with the PMC bank fraud case. The EOW had filed an FIR against HDIL directors Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan and Punjab Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank Chairman Wariyam Singh on Monday but Rakesh and Sarang were untraceable since then.
The duo, accused of loan default, appeared before the EOW on Thursday for questioning. Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Pranay Ashok said, "The Wadhawans were arrested because their response to the questions of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was insufficient." The duo will be produced before the appropriate court on Friday.
The EOW also provisionally attached the properties of the Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited worth Rs 3,500 crore. The EOW suspects that these properties were mortgaged to PMC Bank. "We are also verifying if the same property was mortgaged to any other bank," said an officer.
According to the sources, preliminary investigation indicates that 44 accounts linked to the HDIL were masked. Some PMC Bank employees are suspected to have tampered with the bank software, causing the accounts to remain hidden from the core banking system. "We suspect that the bank employees were protecting these fraudulent accounts with some passwords, preventing them from reflecting in the system," the officer added.
The EOW also raided the residence of PMC Bank chairman Singh and froze his Demat account worth Rs 100 crore. "The SIT searching for the other accused named in the FIR, including the PMC Bank chairman and its directors, but there is no contact from either of them."
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