The Bombay High Court recently directed the state prison authority to produce medical papers and opinions expressed by doctors on the health condition of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) promoter Rakesh Wadhawan, arrested on charges of money laundering in the multi-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank Ltd fraud case.
The direction after the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Mumbai Central Prison, known as Arthur Road Jail, submitted a report stating that Wadhawan was being referred to cardiac and other medical treatment at civic-run KEM hospital as the same cannot be managed at the prison hospital.
The court also allowed PMC Bank to intervene in the bail plea by Wadhawan raising objections against the same.
Wadhawan has been named as an accused by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in the alleged fraud case.
His earlier bail pleas seeking to be released temporarily citing the Covid-19 pandemic were rejected by the special court, which had observed that the allegations against him were of a serious economic offence that had caused losses worth crores.
A single-judge bench of Justice Bharati H Dangre on September 9 heard the bail plea filed by Wadhawan seeking release on health grounds through senior advocate Aabad Ponda.
The PMC Bank, the complainant in the case, through advocate Aamir Malik filed intervention applications seeking to be heard before deciding on Wadhawan’s bail pleas.
On August 27, the court had directed the medical superintendent attached to jail to submit Wadhawan’s health report.
On September 9, the court noted that the CMO of the prison forwarded a report where he stated that the applicant Wadhawan being referred to KEM Hospital on September 1 for cardiac and other multi-organ involved medical treatment, as the same cannot be managed at the prison hospital.
However, the court noted that the report was not accompanied by necessary medical papers and opinions expressed by doctors on when the patient was examined.
Additional Public Prosecutor Prajakta Shinde sought time to place on record all the relevant medical papers, which the court accepted and posted further hearing in the matter to September 15.