PMC Bank scam: Ex-chairman Waryam Singh, HDIL's Sarang Wadhawan, Rakesh Wadhawan sent to police custody till Oct 14

The ED had earlier searched the properties of close associates of the Wadhawans in connection with the case.

Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) chairman Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan and former chairman of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, Waryam Singh have all been sent to police custody till October 14 in connection with Rs 4,355 crore PMC Bank fraud case.

On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had searched the properties of close associates of the Wadhawans in connection with the case. The search came after the ED registered a money laundering case against the HDIL bosses on Friday.

The ED had reportedly found that the owners of HDIL gifted a number of houses to politicians in some posh areas of Maharashtra. However, the identities of these politicians were not revealed.

The central investigating agency had also found a huge house with 22 rooms in Alibag besides a plane, which is said to be in the name of the HDIL promoters. The agency had also found a luxury yacht which is owned by Wadhawans.

According to the FIR registered by the Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai Police, HDIL promoters and senior bank officials created a massive web of deceit to defraud the financial organisation of almost Rs 4355.46 crore. The FIR also stated that PMC Bank officials opened around 21,049 dummy accounts to mask loan accounts. 

The dummy accounts were not even linked to the bank's CBS to hide loans given to defaulters. Even though these loans were not being repaid, bank management did not raise a red flag or classify them as non-performing advances with the RBI, too, not being informed.

On September 23, the RBI imposed regulatory restrictions on the PMC Bank for six months and ordered that the bank to keep the withdrawal limit for each account holders to just Rs 1,000. The RBI later increased the withdrawal limit to Rs 10,000 for each customer while banning the PMC bank from extending fresh loans or taking fixed deposits.