Two promoters of DHFL held by CBI in UPPCL PF scam

| | Lucknow
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Two promoters of DHFL held by CBI in UPPCL PF scam

Saturday, 28 May 2022 | PNS | Lucknow

The sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigating the multi-crore rupees provident fund (PF) scam in Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPCCL) reportedly made a big breakthrough when they arrested Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, the two key accused in the case.

The arrest was made from Mumbai and both were produced by the CBI in the special court. The CBI team sought their police custody remand to grill them in the case.

Both Kapil and Dheeraj are alleged to have bought the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. (UPPCL) employees' provident fund amounting to over Rs 2,267 crore for illegal investment.

Special CBI Court Judge Vikram Singh decided to hand over both the accused to the CBI on seven days’ remand.

In the application seeking remand, the CBI said that in the initial investigation of the case, it was found that over Rs 2,267 crore of employees' provident fund had been misused.

Despite the notification of the finance ministry, the accused got a commission of crores of rupees by investing the provident fund money in DHFL. It was said that the information of those documents and mediums was to be obtained from the accused.

On the other hand, advocate Pranshu Agarwal, appearing for the defense, opposed the application. He said that half of the amount invested in DHFL had been paid and the accused were ready to pay the remaining amount.

Significantly, DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate two years ago in May 2020 in connection with the Yes Bank scam of Rs 5,050 thousand crore. Later, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Kapil. Now the CBI has arrested Kapil and Dheeraj in the second case and presented them in the special CBI court.

Earlier, the UP government had denied permission to the CBI to investigate the alleged role of three IAS officers allegedly involved in the above scam. Sources said that the CBI wanted to investigate former IAS officer Sanjay Agarwal, IAS officer Alok Kumar, and IAS officer Aparna U who were posted in high positions in the UPPCL but the permission was denied by the Appointment and Personnel department. The UPPCL has been charged with investing Rs 2,267 crore of the employees’ provident fund (PF) as fixed deposits (FDs) in the Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) — a Mumbai-based private company. The investment was made in exchange of a commission flouting the Central government’s investment guidelines.

Sanjay Agarwal is a 1984 batch officer and presently he is on Central deputation and is posted as secretary, Agriculture, and Farmers Welfare department. He was posted as principal secretary and chairman of UPPCL from 2013 to 2017 when the scam started. The second officer CBI wanted to prosecute was Alok Kumar, a 1988 batch officer, who is also on Central deputation and is posted as secretary, in the Power ministry. He was once the head of the Energy department of Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, and UP Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited. He was also principal secretary, Energy department and chairman of UPPCL from 2017 to 2019.

Aparna U is a 2001 batch IAS officer currently posted as secretary, UP Medical Health, Family Welfare department and Mission Director, National Health Mission and Executive Director SIFPSA. She was MD of UPPCL and secretary at the Energy department of UP from 2017 to 2019.

As these three officers were at the helm of affairs when the PF scam happened, the CBI had sought sanction from the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the role of these three senior bureaucrats in it. The agency had sought the nod of the state government under Section 17 (A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act which mandates prior sanction from the government before initiating any investigation against a government officer.

Prior to the CBI investigation, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) was investigating the scam in 2019 and it sent former UPPCL MD AP Mishra, Finance Director Sudhanshu Trivedi, and PK Gupta to jail. This was followed by several arrests, including of agent of the brokerage firm and chartered accountants.

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