A court in Mumbai on Monday extended till October 16 the police custody of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited Directors Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan, and Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank Limited’s former Chairperson Waryam Singh, PTI reported. The three were produced in the Esplanade Magistrate court on Monday after their police custody ended.
While the Wadhawans were arrested on October 3, Singh was held two days later for his alleged involvement in the Rs 4,355 crore PMC Bank scam. PMC Bank’s board members and HDIL promoters are accused of laundering money.
Meanwhile, hundreds of PMC Bank depositors protested outside the court, demanding that the accused not be granted bail. They held placards that read “No bail, only jail” and “Vote for NOTA”. Some of the protestors, speaking to reporters, demanded a written assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that their money would be returned.
The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police has told the court that the accused replaced 44 loan accounts of HDIL with 21,049 fictitious accounts to hide huge loan defaults made by the real estate group. Earlier this month, authorities seized property worth Rs 3,500 crore in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the company. The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at six locations earlier this month.
On Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters that Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had assured her that he would keep the interests of customers in mind while dealing with the crisis at the bank. Sitharaman said she appealed to the governor to expedite payments to the bank’s customers.
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