Wadhawans cite health reason for Mahabaleshwar trip

The Wadhawan brothers - Kapil and Dheeraj - the promoters of housing finance family DHFL - who are linked to the Yes Bank scam, on Sunday cited health reasons for the family visit to Mahabaleshwar.

In a statement issued here, they said they took official permission before travelling from Khandala to Mahabaleshwar.

Last week, the Uddhav Thackeray-government sent on compulsory leave senior IPS officer Amitabh Gupta, additional director general of police, for issuing permission on his letterhead.

An inquiry has also been ordered against him by home minister Anil Deshmukh, which would be headed by the additional chief secretary (home) Manoj Saunik.

The Satara police has registered a case and sent 23 members of the Wadhawan family and extended family to quarantine. The CBI and ED have also joined the probe.

The statement on behalf of Wadhawan brothers was issued by legal firm Rashmikant and Partners.

"Recently, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, along with their mother and family, travelled from their rented accommodation in Khandala to their ancestral residence in Mahabaleshwar. The circumstances that necessitated their travel was a bonafide and genuine worry and concern for the health of their family members due to the rapid spread of Covid-19," it said.

The statement said that they had been reading in the newspapers about the rapid spread of Covid-19 in Mumbai -and also heard that there were possible cases in Khandala.
"They were in Khandala along with their mother, aged 70 years, who has a multitude of health problems and their respective wives and children. Kapil Wadhawan suffers from high blood pressure and had recently been hospitalized in JJ Hospital. Dheeraj Wadhawan is also a heart patient and had undergone an emergency angioplasty in Switzerland in January 2018 and was once again hospitalized between 8th October 2019 to 5th November 2019 for a severe lung infection, for which he also had to spend several days in the ICU to the knowledge of ED," it said.

Thereafter, while undergoing interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate, Dheeraj Wadhawan had also suffered from chest pains and once again had to be admitted into Hinduja Healthcare Hospital.

"Thus, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and their mother were highly susceptible to the Covid-19 which could pose a serious risk to their health in view of their medical conditions. Considering the circumstances, the Wadhawans thought it fit to travel further away from Khandala and Mumbai and thus decided to go to their ancestral residence in Mahabaleshwar. They obtained official permission to do so. The only reason for their travel was thus to protect themselves and their family," said the detailed statement.

It added that the family cooperated with the authorities and are now in quarantine in Panchgani.