DHFL Scam Case: CBI Seizes Rs 34 Crore Worth Of Paintings During Searches

The CBI on Friday seized two paintings by famous artists Tyeb Mehta and Manjit Bawa, valued at Rs 34.7 crore, during its searches at three locations in connection with alleged banking fraud of Rs 34,615 crore by DHFL, officials said.

The paintings -- "Bull" by Tyeb Mehta worth over Rs 27 crore and an untitled piece by Bawa estimated to be over Rs 7.7 crore -- were among a large number of paintings and sculptures -- altogether valued at Rs 40 crore -- cash and other incriminating documents seized during the latest searches, the CBI said in a statement.

The agency conducted searches at the premises of Rebecca Dewan and Ajay Ramesh Nawandar in Mumbai and Dewan Villa in Mahabaleshwar, officials said.

The CBI has said suspected links of Nawandar with notorious wanted criminals are also under scanner.

"During investigation, it was found that the promoters had allegedly diverted the funds and made investments in various entities. It was also alleged that the promoters had acquired expensive paintings and sculptures worth about Rs 55 crore (approximately) using the diverted funds," according to the CBI statement.

It was alleged that the private company and its promoters had created a number of shell companies and fictitious entities (the Bandra Book entities) and siphoned off huge funds by disbursing funds to such fictitious entities, the statement said.

It was further alleged that separate audits conducted by other private audit accounting organisations had identified multiple instances of diversion of funds by the accused for personal benefits and falsification of books of accounts to camouflage and conceal dubious transactions.

The CBI has booked Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), its former CMD Kapil Wadhawan, director Dheeraj Wadhawan and others for bank fraud of Rs 34,615 crore, making it the biggest such case probed by the agency.

Following the registration of the case on June 20, a team of over 50 officials from the agency had conducted searches on 12 premises in Mumbai belonging to the FIR-listed accused, including Amaryllis Realtors and eight other builders on June 22.

The agency acted on a complaint from Union Bank of India (UBI), the lead bank of a 17-member lender consortium which had extended credit facilities to the tune of Rs 42,871 crore to it between 2010 and 2018.

The bank has alleged that the Wadhawans in criminal conspiracy with others misrepresented and concealed facts, committed criminal breach of trust and abused public funds to cheat the consortium to the tune of Rs 34,614 crore by defaulting on loan repayments from May 2019 onwards.

The audit of DHFL account books showed that the company allegedly committed financial irregularities, diverted funds, fabricated books, round tripped funds to "create assets for Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan" using public money.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)