DHFL's Dheeraj Wadhawan challenges CBI court order asking him to shift to state-run hosp

The CBI filed a plea before the Special Court on Wadhawan’s hospitalisation claiming that there was no medical exigency to keep him admitted for over a year.

DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan has challenged the order of the special CBI court in Mumbai that asked him to shift from a private hospital to a state-run hospital.

Wadhawan was arrested in 2020, first by the CBI in connection with the Yes Bank case and then by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The CBI filed a plea before the Special Court on Wadhawan’s hospitalisation claiming that there was no medical exigency to keep him admitted for over a year.

Investigating Officer Suman Kumar, Additional Superintendent of Police, CBI, had filed an application before the CBI court claiming that Wadhawan is still hospitalised since December 26, 2020, even though he has neither been on a ventilator nor in a coma and there is no indication that Wadhawan underwent any major complex surgery or faced serious or emergency health complications during this period of hospitalisation.

The court had noted that Wadhawan was admitted to civic hospital KEM without the orders of the CBI court and was then shifted to a private hospital in the western suburbs too, without any order. He is in judicial custody of the CBI court.

The court also noted that another accused, Kapil Wadhawan, too had managed to remain in the hospital for a long period during custody in Taloja Jail without the orders of the court. "According to the averment, there are reasons to believe that the accused has managed to remain outside the jail through such hospitalisation," said the court.

Meanwhile, Dheeraj Wadhawan claimed that he was shifted to hospital on the order of the special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Wadhawans are being investigated by both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).