In a relief to the promoter of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL), Dheeraj Wadhawan, the Bombay High Court on Friday allowed him to undergo a surgery at a private hospital.
A single Bench of Justice P.D. Naik set aside the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court order against Mr. Wadhawan, which had directed him to be shifted to the State-run JJ Hospital from the privately-run Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai, where he has been lodged for the last 15 months.
The court allowed Mr. Wadhawan to undergo nasal surgery at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and said he shall be taken to hospital for carrying out tests on April 12 and 13. The court added that after the schedule for the surgery was fixed, he may be admitted for surgery and post-surgery care for two weeks.
Mr. Wadhawan was arrested by the CBI in 2020 in connection with the Yes Bank case. He was later placed under arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The special CBI judge had, last month, directed the Superintendent of Taloja Central Jail, to shift Mr. Wadhawan to JJ Hospital. It had also sought an explanation from the Superintendent on how Mr. Wadhawan was shifted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital without its permission. The court had passed the order in response to the CBI’s plea stating that there was no medical emergency to keep Mr. Wadhawan in the private hospital for 15 months.
Earlier, another court designated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which was hearing a plea in the ED case against Mr. Wadhawan, was told that the private hospital had proposed that Mr. Wadhawan needed to undergo a surgery as he was suffering from severe nasal congestion and had difficulty in breathing.
Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Mr. Wadhawan, had previously submitted that his client was continuously on blood thinners and could not take a nasal test which required him to be off blood thinners for a certain duration, and his right to life and personal liberty should also be considered by the court.
However, advocate Hiten Venegaonkar, representing the CBI, had opposed the plea and said that no prejudice had been caused to the petitioner by the special CBI court order as there has been “no break in his medical treatment and there is no change of circumstances”.
He added that the agency had requested an assessment of Mr. Wadhawan’s health by a medical board and that the JJ Hospital was well-equipped to conduct a nasal surgery. However, Mr. Wadhawan was avoiding treatment at a State-run hospital, Mr. Venegaonkar said.
