The state home department has recommended two weeks’ extension to the Saunik committee that is probing the alleged lapses by senior IPS officer and Principal Secretary (Home) Amitabh Gupta.
Gupta had permitted Wadhawan brothers of DHEL to travel to Mahabaleshwar in violation of the lockdown norms. Police had detained the brothers and put them under quarantine.
Following an uproar, the state government had sent Gupta on leave, and asked Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Manoj Saunik to conduct an inquiry.
Now Saunik has asked for more time and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sanjay Kumar has recommended the same. It now waits the final approval of Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The DHFL -a non-banking finance company- has been under the scanner of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate since March for its suspicious transactions with Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in 2018.
Wadhawans’ quarantine ended on April 22, but the CBI has asked the district authorities not to release them without its NoC.
