New Delhi, January 29: The shares of Dewan Housing Financing Limited (DHFL) plunged 11 per cent on Tuesday, in the backdrop of explosive financial fraudery charges levelled against the firm by investigative news portal Cobrapost. The website has accused the DHFL top brass of siphoning off shareholders' deposits to the tune of Rs 31,000 crore.

The report claims that the key stakeholders of DHFL - "Kapil Wadhawan, Aruna Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan", along with others, transferred the amounts availed through shareholder deposits, secured and unsecured loans to shell companies. NPA-Hit Public Sector Banks Need Rs 1.2 Trillion in Urgent Capital: Crisil.

According to Cobrapost, the amount was siphoned off systematically through a spree of transactions involving dozens of shell companies. Since the loan amounts were re-routed through these benaami firms, the accountability was eliminated as the stakeholders of these companies "exist only on paper", the report alleged.

DHFL has denied the allegations levelled by Cobrapost, calling them frivolous. The housing firm, in a statement, claimed that it has adhered to the strict norms laid down by the regulatory bodies, and has paid back to the shareholders in excess of Rs 17,000 crore in the last three months.

Despite the clarification issued by the company, the investor confidence has taken a hit as the value of its share plummeted to as low as Rs 164.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange -- nearly 11 per cent drop in its value as compared to Monday. The shares resurrected by the end of the day, as the closed at Rs 170.05.

The dip in share prices comes on a day when DHFL raised Rs 1,375 crore from Oaktree Capital by selling off a wholesale loan (valuing USD 194 million). The transaction was structured under the securitization guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the company said in a statement Tuesday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2019 08:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).