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PMC Bank fraud: PMLA court asks jail authorities to shift HDIL promoter Rakesh Wadhawan to govt hospital
Mumbai: The special court set up to try cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on Tuesday, directed jail authorities to shift Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoter Rakesh Wadhawan to a government-run hospital to undergo colonoscopy or endoscopy.
The court has ordered that he could be admitted to a private healthcare facility, if the treatment is not available in a government-run hospital.
Wadhawan, who has been suffering from multiple ailments, through his lawyers, had pleaded to transfer him to a private hospital for treatment.
The plea was made after the court had refused to grant him bail.
His lawyer Subir Sarkar said that the court initially, has directed the prison authorities to transfer him to a government hospital.
But, he could be shifted to a private hospital, if the government-run hospital doctors recommend it.
“The jail authority is directed to take accused Rakesh Wadhawan to either KEM hospital or Nair Hospital or any other government hospital for colonoscopy or endoscopy, if the procedure has not been carried out yet. If it is noticed during the treatment by the government-run hospital doctors that Wadhawan would need to be treated at a private hospital, then he could be shifted there. However, the hospital’s administrative and jail authorities’ advice will be required before he can be shifted to a private hospital,” said PP Rajvaidy, judge, special PMLA court.
Wadhawan and his son Sarang have been booked by the Mumbai Police’s economic offence wing (EOW) after they had defaulted on the repayment of a loan taken from the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC).
The bank had run into acute financial troubles, as HDIL had 73% of the financial institution’s total loan exposure of Rs 8,300, which works out to around Rs 6,226 crore.
They had allegedly conspired with bank officials to secure the loan without security.
Soon after the EOW case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also had initiated a separate probe into money laundering allegations against the Wadhawans.