4 min readChandigarhMar 16, 2026 07:18 AM IST
Real-estate developer and hotelier Vikram Wadhwa, arrested by the Chandigarh Police in connection with the alleged Rs 116-crore IDFC-linked Smart City scam, has moved the Chandigarh court with three applications, alleging that he was made to sign various handwritten, typed and blank papers while in police custody and that the grounds of his arrest were not disclosed to him.
Wadhwa, who is currently on five-day police remand, has also sought supply of key documents, including the FIR, arrest memo and remand application, while asking the court to declare his arrest illegal and in violation of constitutional safeguards.
Wadhwa was arrested by the Chandigarh Police on Saturday. During the remand proceedings, the police had sought seven days’ custody of the accused, but the court granted five days.
On Saturday, while his remand plea by the prosecution was being argued, Wadhwa through his counsel, Vivek Thakur and Vinay Yadav, filed three applications before the court. A decision on these applications is still pending.
In one of the applications, Wadhwa has sought supply of key documents related to his arrest and the case. The application requests the court to direct the investigating officer to provide copies of the arrest memo, FIR, remand application, satisfaction recorded by police under Section 35(c) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and all other material on the basis of which his arrest and remand were sought.
In the plea, Wadhwa stated that he has been taken into custody by the police but has not been informed about the basic allegations against him. He stated that he is “totally in the dark” about whether any FIR has been registered against him and about the reasons for his detention. The application also states that without these documents, the applicant would not be in a position to properly oppose the remand application moved by the police.
In a second application filed before the court, Wadhwa has prayed that his statement be recorded under Section 183(1) read with Section 183(5) of BNSS. In this application, he alleged that while in police custody he was made to sign various handwritten, typed, typed-and-handwritten and blank papers, the contents of which were not disclosed to him.
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The application further claims that the applicant was not informed about the grounds of arrest at any point of time and remained unaware of the allegations or particulars of the case due to which he was taken into custody. Through the plea, Wadhwa requested the court to record his statement regarding these allegations.
In a third application, Wadhwa has sought a declaration from the court that his arrest is illegal and in violation of the “procedure established by law”. The application states that the arrest was carried out in violation of Articles 21 and 22(1) of the Constitution of India as well as provisions under sections 36, 35(c), 47, 48 and 62 of the BNSS.
The plea asserts that the applicant was not supplied with the mandatory “grounds of arrest” at the time he was taken into custody, which according to him amounts to a violation of his fundamental rights.
The applications were filed on Saturday as the Chandigarh Police informed the court during remand proceedings that its preliminary investigation had revealed the alleged diversion of government funds linked to the Chandigarh Smart City project through multiple companies, eventually routing them into real-estate projects.
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The police had also informed the court that fixed deposits worth Rs 116.84 crore shown in the records of Chandigarh Smart City Limited were found to be fake, and that several suspicious financial entries had been detected during scrutiny of bank statements.
The court is yet to pass orders on the three applications filed by Wadhwa.
