ED's email to Satara district admin led to Wadhawan brothers who were evading probe

New Delhi: It was an email by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that led officials in Maharashtra's Satara district to find Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoter brothers of the scam-tainted DHFL, in the tourist town of Mahabaleshwar, officials privy to the development said on Friday.
They said the federal agency, that has been on the heels of the duo as part of its money laundering probe in the Yes Bank case, got source-based information that the Wadhawans and a few others had moved out from the state's Khandala area and were staying at a location in Satara.

Officials said the investigating officer of the case, who was present at the agency's office in Ballard Pier in Mumbai, immediately shared "vital details" of this information with the Superintendent of Police and Collector of Satara district on Thursday evening.

The email mentioned that as the Wadhawans were jumping Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons in the Yes Bank case, the probe agency had deployed its "assets" to track their movements and hence the district administration should help in locating its accused who were present in their jurisdiction.

"This was on the lines of sharing information and seeking cooperation by one law enforcement agency to the other in the course of investigating a criminal case," a source said.

They said the ED had been looking for the Wadhawans since they rejected its three summons, issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in the high-profile case where top business honchos like Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani and Essel promoter Subhash Chandra have already been questioned.

The Wadhawans kept changing their locations in Maharashtra and were using different phones, sources claimed.