ED looks into 18 companies linked to HDIL

After registering a money laundering case against Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) chairman Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan in the Rs 4,355 crore Punjab Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate is looking for the details of other 18 companies linked to HDIL during the raids at six locations in Mumbai. The ED carried our raids at six places, including HDIL's head office at Bandra (East) and residence of Rakesh Wadhawan, which is known as Wadhawan House at in Bandra (West). The financial investigating agency also raided premises of former PMC Bank chairman Waryam Singh and present MD Joy Thomas. Interestingly, it has found that HDIL were one of the sponsor of Kolkata Knight Riders, an IPL cricket team owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. HDIL was also the organiser of a glorious Mumbai fashion event - HDIL Couture Week India, which was later shelved. HDIL had also stake in Adhikari Brothers' firms and Hindi news channel Live India. The financial probe agency said that they will now look into all the deals the company had done since its inception. It stated that they had registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act on October 3 and are currently looking into "bank exposures to Wadhawan group of companies". The ED is looking into the roles of seven directors of HDIL, including the Wadhawans. Both were arrested on Thursday by Mumbai Police after they were found non-cooperating with the sleuths.