The Bombay High Court on April 5 granted bail to the promoters of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan (father and son) in two cases registered against them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police. The two were allegedly involved in a ₹4,000 crore fraud against Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.
Justice S.M. Modak heard a plea filed by the duo seeking bail after it was refused by the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court. They were arrested by the EOW in October 2019 for allegedly conspiring with PMC bank management and staff to defraud it. In December 2019, the ED filed a case against them for money laundering.
The have received bail after four and half years and have been directed to submit a surety of ₹5 lakh each in both the cases.
The high court said the long incarceration and delay in the trial was the primary reason for granting them bail. The Wadhawans counsel Aabad Ponda and advocate Subhash Jadhav argued that a co-accused, a senior bank official was also granted bail in the case. Hearing their argument, the court took note and cited parity as grounds since the chairperson of the PMC bank was earlier released on bail by Justice M.S. Karnik.
