YES Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor was sent to judicial custody till April 2 on Friday. The Enforcement Directorate informed the special PMLA court that it had found 19 new companies related to Kapoor and is looking into the money trail.
During investigation, ED had earlier found links of Kapoor and his family with 78 companies. Kapoor wasarrested by the ED on March 8 under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and was initially remanded to ED custody till March 11, which was later extended till March 16. The PMLA court had then extended his custody with the ED till March 20.
When asked by Judge Parashuram Jadhav if he had any complaints, Kapoor said that he has been suffering from asthma for the last six to seven years and has low immunity and was in severe depression.
His lawyer, advocate Abbad Ponda, also said that a person with low immunity is ‘easily susceptible’ to contracting coronavirus.
“The virus is spreading very fast. It is a very precarious situation. If he goes there (to the jail) he might catch something which is very, very serious,” the lawyer said, requesting that Kapoor should be kept in a larger cell.
The court asked the jail authorities to take proper care of Kapoor and provide him with medicines as per the advice of the medical officer.
Kapoor is also being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI has also obtained a production warrant against Kapoor, which will be presented to jail authorities.