ED attaches properties worth Rs 40.40 crore in DHFL bank fraud case
The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached immovable properties valued at Rs 40.40 crore belonging to Harish Dedhiya and his wife Dhara Dedhiya in connection with the ongoing money-laundering investigation into the bank loan fraud involving Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited and its promoters.
The action was taken by the Headquarters Investigation Unit of the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The attached properties consist of land parcels at Karjat in Raigad district of Maharashtra and a residential plot at Shanti Niketan in New Delhi. The agency has described the Karjat properties as farmhouses and the Shanti Niketan asset as a residence in its public communications.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, its investigation has revealed that in the financial year 2018-19, DHFL diverted proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 40.40 crore to two Mumbai-based proprietorship concerns named Reliable Services and Millennium Services. These concerns belong to Harish Dedhiya and Dhara Dedhiya. The payments were made against fictitious services that were never rendered.
The provisional attachment forms part of the larger money-laundering probe arising from the bank loan fraud case against DHFL and its promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan. The Enforcement Directorate investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, AC-VI, New Delhi. The FIR was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act following a complaint filed by Union Bank of India on behalf of a consortium of 17 banks.
As per the FIR, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and others entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the consortium banks. The banks had sanctioned credit facilities aggregating to Rs 42,871 crore to DHFL. The loan funds were siphoned off and misappropriated through falsification of the books of accounts of DHFL, resulting in a wrongful loss of approximately Rs 34,615 crore to the consortium lenders.
The Enforcement Directorate investigation has revealed that the Wadhawans controlled around 225 companies, directly or through family members, associates and employees. Forensic audits of DHFL identified 66 entities connected to the promoters to which loans and advances of over Rs 29,100 crore were disbursed. Investigation has further revealed that approximately Rs 11,549 crore were diverted from DHFL to 87 promoter-controlled entities through a fictitious Bandra Branch.
Through this branch, large disbursals to Wadhawan Group entities were split and disguised as home loans in the names of about 2.60 lakh fictitious retail borrowers. The inflated retail loan book enabled DHFL to raise further borrowings from banks, evade regulatory scrutiny and conceal related-party transactions.
The Enforcement Directorate has already filed a prosecution complaint before the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in Mumbai against 17 accused, including Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan. This was followed by a supplementary prosecution complaint against five more accused.
Earlier, during search operations conducted on 19 August 2026, the ED had frozen approximately US dollars 5.41 million, equivalent to about Rs 51.75 crore, linked to the disposal of a foreign asset of the Wadhawan family.
The latest attachment of properties linked to Harish Dedhiya and Dhara Dedhiya represents a further development in tracing the movement of alleged proceeds of crime from the original bank fraud. The Enforcement Directorate has stated that it is actively pursuing the perpetrators of financial crime and is committed to restituting proceeds of crime to the consortium banks. Further investigation is under progress.
The DHFL case has been under investigation for several years. The CBI registered the main bank fraud case in June 2022. It filed a chargesheet in October 2022. The Special Judge at the Rouse Avenue Court took cognizance of the chargesheet in November 2022. At that stage the chargesheet named 75 persons and entities. Court records have discussed the allegations concerning the fictitious Bandra Branch, shell companies and the use of approximately 2.60 lakh fictitious borrowers.
A Delhi High Court judgment delivered in August 2025 in connection with a bail application by Kapil Wadhawan provided further details of the Central Bureau of Investigation case. It recorded the chargesheet against 18 individuals and 57 companies or entities and discussed the alleged manipulation of accounting systems used by DHFL to create and record the fictitious retail loan accounts.
In September 2025 the ED had announced the provisional attachment of immovable and movable assets worth approximately Rs 185.84 crore in the same investigation. That action, carried out by the Mumbai Zonal Office, included 154 flats and receivables relating to 20 flats in Mumbai. An earlier attachment order had covered Rs 70.39 crore, taking the cumulative attachment figure reported at that time to Rs 256.23 crore.
The November 2026 attachment of properties valued at Rs 40.40 crore is a separate action by the Headquarters Investigation Unit. It is based on the specific finding that Rs 40.40 crore was diverted during financial year 2018-19 to the two proprietorship concerns of Harish Dedhiya and Dhara Dedhiya against services that were never provided.
Provisional attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is a statutory measure available to the Enforcement Directorate. It is intended to prevent the property from being transferred or dealt with while the investigation and adjudication process continues. The attachment is not a final confiscation. The order is required to be placed before the Adjudicating Authority, which examines whether the property is involved in money laundering. Affected persons have the opportunity to present their case. Confirmation of the attachment or any other decision follows the process laid down in the law.
The properties attached in the present action are located at two places. In Karjat, Raigad district, Maharashtra, the assets are land parcels. The Enforcement Directorate has referred to them as farmhouses. In New Delhi the asset is a residential plot at Shanti Niketan, described as a residence. The total value of the attached properties is given as Rs 40.40 crore. The press release does not provide a separate valuation for the Maharashtra properties and the Delhi property.
The Enforcement Directorate has identified Harish Dedhiya as the proprietor of Reliable Services and Millennium Services. Dhara Dedhiya is identified as his wife and as belonging to the same proprietorship business arrangement. The agency has stated that the two concerns received the sum of Rs 40.40 crore from DHFL during financial year 2018-19. The payments were recorded against services that, according to the investigation, were never rendered.
The case continues to be investigated. The Enforcement Directorate has indicated that further investigation is under progress. The agency has reiterated its commitment to returning the proceeds of crime to the consortium of banks that suffered the alleged wrongful loss.
The DHFL investigation remains one of the major bank fraud and money-laundering cases being handled by the CBI and the ED. It involves allegations of large-scale diversion of funds obtained from a consortium of banks, falsification of company accounts, creation of fictitious borrower accounts, and movement of funds through a network of entities controlled by or linked to the promoters. The attachment of properties linked to the Dedhiya proprietorships forms part of the effort to identify and secure assets alleged to represent proceeds of the original crime.
The Enforcement Directorate press release dated 2 November 2026 is the primary official document recording the latest action. It sets out the provisional attachment, the properties involved, the alleged diversion of Rs 40.40 crore to Reliable Services and Millennium Services, and the connection of that diversion to the larger DHFL money-laundering investigation.
