DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan have been detained in Mahabaleshwar for violating Section 144. Police found 25 people, including their family members, at their farmhouse.
Wadhawan brothers rented a guest house in the hill station of Khandala sometime in mid-March. Since then, they were staying there as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials were on their trail.
They also called their family members, house-helps and some of their friends to the place as they were all put up at the guest house when the lockdown started. Due to the lockdown, all hotels and guest houses had to be vacated. But, Wadhawans and others staying in the guest house had nowhere to go.
If they tried to come to Mumbai, they could have been arrested by any of these agencies.
A source told Moneycontrol, "The guest house owner came under pressure last week and asked Wadhawans to vacate premises. But, to travel to Mahabaleshwar, they needed a pass for which they sought help from some of their powerful friends in the government."
Amitabh Gupta - the former additional commissioner of West Region in Mumbai police - issued the letter allowing their travel from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar.
With the letter, they went to Mahabaleshwar where Satara police apprehended them as CBI and ED had earlier informed Satara about their cases.
The letter was not valid as it was not issued by the zonal deputy commissioner of Police or the superintendent of police. So, it came under suspicion, and they were detained by Satara Police
CBI and ED earlier informed the authorities against Wadhawan, seeking arrest just after quarantine.
“I filed a criminal complaint with the Mulund east police station against Amitabh Gupta, Home Secretary - Maharashtra, for protecting and honouring the criminal absconders, Wadhawan Brothers. I also demanded the registration of FIR and the arrest of Amitabh Gupta & Wadhawan Brothers,” Kirit Somaiya, the vice president of BJP's Maharashtra unit, said.
CBI may take custody first with Wadhawan in Yes Bank case.
Satara SP Tejasvini Satpute has confirmed that members of the Wadhawan family (23) were detained from Mahabaleshwar and have been placed under institutional quarantine at government hospital in Panchgani.
Satpute added that they have been booked under IPC 188, 269 and 270 and investigation will commence soon.
The Wadhawans reached Mahabaleshwar on April 9 morning. The locals came to know about people coming from Mumbai and informed the administration. The tehsildar then took action against the Wadhawans when they were at the farm house.
Amitabh Gupta, Principal Secretary, Home Department of Maharashtra government, issued a special pass to them to travel from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar for a "family emergency".
"An investigation will be conducted about how 23 members of the Vadhawan family got permission to travel from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar," tweeted Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
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