PMC Bank scam: 2 HDIL directors held, Rs 3,500 crore assets frozen
Mumbai, Oct 3: Mumbai police on Thursday arrested two directors of the Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) in the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank scam and also seized Rs 3,500 crore property of the company, a senior official said.
A Special Investigation Team of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested Rakesh Wadhawan, chairman and managing director of HDIL and his son Sarang Wadhawan for loan default, the official said.
Both the accused were called by EOW office to join the investigation, he said.
During their inquiry, police did not got satisfactory answers to specific questions, following which both were arrested on the basis of certain facts which surfaced during the investigation, the official said.
Properties worth around Rs 3,500 crore, belonging to HDIL, have also been frozen by the EOW, he said.
Police are collecting more information about the scam and interrogation of the arrested father-son duo is going on, he said. All those involved in this case will be called for inquiry, he added.
As many as 44 bank accounts of HDIL and associate companies have been identified, the official said.
EOW had registered an FIR on Monday against senior officials of HDIL and the PMC Bank for allegedly causing losses to the tune of Rs 4,355.43 crore to the bank.
The FIR was filed under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant or banker), 420 (cheating), and 465, 466 and 471 (related to forgery) of the Indian Penal Code along with 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), he said.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed by the EOW to investigate the case.
The corporate office of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) at Bandra in western suburbs and Bhandup branch of PMC in eastern suburbs were searched by the EOW, he said adding some important documents were seized.
Police had also issued Look Out Circulars (LOCs) against 17 persons, including Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang, in this connection to ensure that they could not leave the country.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
