CBI gives clean chit to realty firm DHFL in fake home loan accounts case

Promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan along with the company were booked for creating 2.60 lakh allegedly fictitious home loan accounts, some of which were used to claim interest subsidies under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna

New Delhi: The CBI has closed the case against the DHFL and its directors pertaining to 2.60 lakh allegedly fictitious home loan accounts, some of which were used to claim interest subsidies under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, officials said.

After over three years of probe, the agency could not find evidence suggesting a criminal conspiracy which could have led to the creation of such accounts, they said. The irregularities were pointed out in the report of auditor Grant Thornton, appointed by the new board of the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), they said.

---

The agency has now submitted its final report before a special court in Delhi, which would take a call on whether to accept the closure report or order further investigation into the matter. The CBI had booked promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan along with the company.

It was alleged that DHFL had opened a fictitious branch in Bandra and fake accounts worth Rs 14,046 crore of home-loan borrowers, who had already repaid their loans, were entered in the database, they said.

A total of 2.60 lakh “fake and fictitious” home loan accounts were created in the non-existent branch from 2007-19 for a total loan worth Rs 14,046 crore, out of which Rs 11,755.79 crore were deposited or routed to several fictitious firms known as Bandra Book firms, the CBI had alleged in the FIR.

Several of these bogus loan accounts were linked in the Pradhan Mantri Awas (PMAY) to claim interest subsidies from the National Housing Bank in connivance with its officials, the CBI had alleged.

The DHFL had allegedly processed 88,651 cases under the PMAY till December 2018, and it received an interest subsidy of Rs 539.40 crore, while it has to receive Rs 1,347.80 crore from the government, it had said. PMAY is a central scheme to ensure housing for all.