MUMBAI: The CBI has recovered artworks worth Rs 40 crore during searches as part of its probe into the Rs 34,614-crore fraud involving DHFL and its officials. One of the paintings is ‘Bull’ by Tyeb Mehta.
The premises searched were of Ajay Nawandar, an informant who is believed to have underworld links, and Rebecca Dewan, who is apparently close to DHFL’s erstwhile promoter Kapil Wadhawan. The premises included their homes in Mumbai and Dewan Villa at Mahabaleshwar. The CBI is investigating Nawandar’s alleged links with gangster Chhota Shakeel.
Kapil, with the help of his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan aka Baba Dewan, had availed credit facilities in the name of DHFL of Rs 42,871 crore from the Union Bank of India-led consortium of 17 banks. The brothers then diverted the money from DHFL to companies associated with them in the form of loans. Later, DHFL defaulted on repayment of the outstanding loan amount of Rs 34,615 crore.
After registering the case, last month, the CBI searched the premises of the Wadhawan brothers and builder Sudhakar Shetty of Sahana Group, a co-accused. During further searches at the premises of those associated with the Wadhawa-ns, CBI recovered the artwo-rks, including Mehta’s ‘Bull’.
The CBI claimed that during probe, its officials found that the Wadhawans had acquired paintings and sculptures worth about Rs 55 crore using the diverted funds. The Wadhawans had diverted substantial amounts of the money into the companies controlled by Shetty, the agency alleged.
According to CBI’s FIR, on the instruction of the Wadhawans, DHFL had disbursed loans in favour of companies controlled by them. The FIR further said, “A part of the money had been diverted to companies controlled by the erstwhile DHFL promoters (Kapil and Dheeraj) and Sahana Group, where they also have prima facie financial interest.”
Among the total defrauded amount, the Wadhawans allegedly used 66 entities associated with them for diverting Rs 24,595 crore from DHFL in the guise of loans, of which Rs 11,909 crore payment is still ou-tstanding. Also, DHFL disbursed Rs 14,000 crore of false loans in the names of 1.82 lakh non-existent persons and maintained those records, referri-ng to them as ‘Bandra Books’.
