Businessman held in Rs 5,000-cr fraud case

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a businessman from Delhi in connection with the probe into an alleged bank fraud to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore involving a Gujarat-based pharma firm and few other hawala deals.

Gagan Dhawan was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, said sources. Dhawan is said to be close to Ranjit Sinha, a former CBI director.

Dhawan's name appeared in the visitor's list at Sinha's official residence. The list had kicked up a storm as it showed that Sinha had been meeting some of the accused in high-profile cases being investigated by the agency.

Dhawan was under watch for allegedly aiding loan frauds related to Sterling Biotech, a Vadodara-based firm and alleged illegal transactions. ED had raided properties of Dhawan and an ex-Congress MLA in Delhi in August.