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New illnesses being introduced to increase Dheeraj Wadhawan’s hospital stay: Court
A special CBI court has accused doctors of introducing new illnesses to extend the hospital stay of DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan, who is accused in the DHFL-Yes Bank loan fraud case. The court also noted that Wadhawan's family attempted to sneak a mobile phone into his hospital room. The CBI alleges that Yes Bank invested INR 4,727 crore ($633 million) in DHFL bonds in return for a kickback to then CEO Rana Kapoor.
New illnesses are being introduced by doctors for extending DHFL (Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited) promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan’s stay in a private hospital, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court said on Tuesday.
The court also took note of the revelation made by the agency that his family members violated the liberty granted by the court after attempting to sneak a mobile phone with a dongle (data card) into Wadhawan’s hospital room.
Wadhawan is an accused in the DHFL-Yes Bank loan fraud case.
The special court on July 11 allowed Wadhawan to take treatment in Lilavati hospital but restrained him for not extending his hospital stay beyond eight days. Wadhawan was accordingly operated upon last week. However, his treating doctor, Dr Nitin Gokhale, on July 24 approached the court for extending his hospitalisation by 3-4 more days, saying he needed to take complete bed rest after the surgery.
The CBI in its reply claimed that “on July 20, the family of Dheeraj Wadhawan attempted to misuse his hospitalisation by way of providing one keypad mobile along with a dongle to the accused. The CBI officers deputed at the hospital found the mobile and the dongle while searching the clothes brought in by his family and handed the equipment over to the Bandra police.”
Later, on July 28, Dr Gokhale submitted before the court a re-evaluated report of Wadhawan wherein he stated that he could be discharged if his APLA levels were normal. The doctor also mentioned about his depression in the report.
The court said Dr Gokhale, in his report, referred to the opinion of Dr Vinod Agrawal (orthopaedic consultant) and his advice for an MRI and X-ray of Wadhawan’s spine. Dr Gokhale also referred to the opinion of Dr Bharat Shah, psychiatrist, about his depression, the court said. “Till date, during intervening eight days, X-ray and MRI of the spine of Dheeraj Wadhawan could have been done by Dr Agrawal.”
“All this clearly indicates that if any medical issue is introduced to the court with a report of certain investigation, the court would certainly extend the hospitalisation. The hospitalisation granted to Dheeraj Wadhawan was not for these illnesses as he was thoroughly examined by a medical board constituted by AIIMS, New Delhi, based on an order of the Supreme Court. Yet, such references made by Dr Gokhale clearly indicate that other illnesses are being introduced for continuation of the hospitalisation of Dheeraj Wadhawan,” the court said.
According to the CBI, between April and June 2018, Yes Bank had invested around ₹4,727 crore in short-term non-convertible debentures and masala bonds of DHFL. The bank had also sanctioned a term loan of ₹750 crore to a DHFL group firm.
In return, the then Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor had received a kickback of ₹600 crore from DHFL in the form of a loan to his family firm, Do It Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited, the agency claimed.
