‘Rakesh Wadhawan’s condition bad’
Rakesh Wadhawan, key accused in the PMC Bank scam is passing blood in his stools and is in no position to recognise anyone, alleged advocates of the Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) founder in a special court on Tuesday.
Advocate Subir Kumar appearing for Wadhawan told a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that JJ Hospital was not providing proper treatment to Wadhawan. He said it was not submitting the report on his medical condition that the court had called for.
After Wadhawan had tested negative for Coronavirus and was shifted to state’s JJ hospital, his advocates had moved an application for Wadhawan to be shifted to a reputed private hospital. JJ hospital, they said, did not have the specialist needed to treat his gastrointestinal problem. The court had then called for his medical papers and a report on the treatment being provided to Wadhawan in the state hospital to decide on the plea.
Earlier this month, Rakesh Wadhawan had been moved to JJ hospital when he had complained of breathlessness. Within a week, he had tested positive for Coronavirus, after which he was shifted to GT hospital - a COVID facility. His advocate Subodh Desai had sought that he be shifted to National Sports Club of India (NSCI) Dome , which had been made into a special COVID facility during the lockdown as, he said, GT hospital did not have the required specialists and equipment. The court had called a doctor from the hospital, who had accepted the lack of facilities. Thereafter, the court had directed the jail superintendent to shift Wadhawan to NSCI Dome in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, Wadhawan had recovered from the infection and hence was shifted back to JJ hospital. The present application came after that.
Rakesh Wadhawan is a key accused in the PMC scam case wherein the ED alleges that HDIL had taken loans from PMC bank from 2008 to 2019 without repaying previous loans in connivance with bank executives. The bank’s huge exposure to HDIL constituted 73 per cent of its bad loans and a loss of around Rs. 6,121 crores to it.