Mumbai: The ED on Friday raided six locations in Mumbai and adjoining areas and registered a money-laundering case to probe alleged fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank case, officials said.
They said the raids were being conducted after a criminal compliant was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the central agency. Premises of the HDIL and director Rakesh Wadhwan's house were among the locations searched by the ED.
The Enforcement Directorate case is based on an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police. The raids are aimed at gathering additional evidence, ED sources said.
The ED and Mumbai Police case is against former bank management and promoters of the Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL).
Based on a complaint by an RBI-appointed administrator, the police complaint was filed earlier this week on charges of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against the officials.
According to the initial investigation, police said, the bank's losses since 2008 were Rs 4,355.46 crore.
The bank's former chairman Waryam Singh, managing director Joy Thomas and other senior officials, along with a director of HDIL, have been named in the FIR.
The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested two directors of the HDIL — Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan — in connection with the Rs 4,355-crore fraud. According to the police, properties worth several thousand crores have also been frozen by the EOW in connection with the case.
In view of the crisis, several housing societies that were affected by the RBI's cash withdrawal restrictictions on PMC Bank threatened to boycott the assembly elections.
The central bank placed capped withdrawals to Rs 1,000 per account, and directed the bank to not grant any new loans.
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