SC sets aside statutory bail granted to DHFL’s Wadhawans in loan scam case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside an order granting statutory bail to former Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in connection with a multi-crore rupees bank loan scam case.

A bench presided over by Justice Bela M Trivedi said that the court has no hesitation since the charge sheet was filed and cognisance was taken in due time, the Wadhawan brothers could not have claimed statutory bail as a right.

The bench said that the high court and the lower court erred and the trial court can hear the matter afresh on regular bail.

The CBI assailed the statutory bail granted by courts below to former Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in connection with a multi-crore rupees bank loan scam case.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, for the CBI, said that the charge sheet in the case was filed well within the 90 days statutory period and yet the statutory bail was granted to the accused.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), an accused becomes entitled to a grant of statutory bail if the probe agency fails to file the charge sheet on conclusion of the investigation in a criminal case within a 60 or 90-day period.

The CBI, in this case, filed the charge sheet on the 88th day after registration of the FIR and the trial court granted default bail to the accused and the Delhi High Court upheld the order.

In May last year, the Delhi High Court upheld the statutory bail granted to DHFL promoters in connection with a multi-crore rupees bank loan scam case.

The high court had dismissed CBI’s plea challenging the trial court order and held that holding the decision to grant them bail was “based on good reasoning and logic”.

It has been alleged that DHFL, its then-CMD Kapil Wadhawan, the then-Director Dheeraj Wadhawan and other accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the consortium of 17 banks led by the Union Bank of India, and in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy. The allegations levelled, claimed that the accused and others induced the consortium to sanction huge loans aggregating Rs 42,871.42 crore.