CBI charges DHFL founders with fraud in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana

Trouble has mounted for promoters of crisis-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) – Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan – after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday (March 24) busted a scam connected to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

The Wadhwan brothers are already behind bars on money-laundering charges in the Yes Bank fraud case. The CBI has now registered a case against them for creating fictitious home loan accounts amounting to over ₹14,000 crore. The duo earned ₹1,800 crore in interest subsidy offered the Government of India, the CBI alleged.

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is an initiative of the Government of India in which affordable housing will be provided to the urban poor with a target of building 2 crore affordable houses by March 31, 2022. People from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) get loans while those from low and middle income groups get subsidized loan.

Also read: Police can continue investigation against Sushant’s sister Priyanka: HC

A financial institution like DHFL grants loans to people who want to build their houses and later claim interest subsidies from the government. The CBI report said that in 2018, the Wadhawan brothers opened 2.6 lakh fake housing loan accounts, many of them under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and claimed interest subsidies in a fictitious branch of DHFL.

For the period 2007-2019, the company disbursed loans of ₹14,046 crore, of which ₹11,755.79 crore were directed to other fictitious firms.

Also read: CBI, WB police head for showdown on summons in smuggling cases

Last year, the CBI charged Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan for allegedly giving kickbacks to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s family against investments in DHFL.

Rana Kapoor and Wadhawan brothers are currently in jail.