New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled the statutory bail granted to former Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in a multi-crore bank loan scam case.
Here's what Supreme Court said
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma during the hearing said that the Delhi High Court and trial court 'committed error' in granting bail to the brothers, who are accused in the Rs 34,615 crore bank loan fraud case.
"We have no hesitation in holding that the charge sheet having been filed against the respondent accused in the prescribed time limit and the cognizance had been taken by the special court of the offences alleged committed by them, the respondents could not have claimed the statutory right of default bail under Section 167 (2) of CrPC on the ground that the investigation for other accused was pending," the bench said.
The apex court also directed that the Wadhawan brothers be taken into custody forthwith.
What did CBI say?
The CBI had previously criticized the statutory bail granted by lower courts to Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in the Supreme Court. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, appearing for the CBI, had said that the charge sheet in the case was filed well within the 90-day statutory period and yet the statutory bail was granted to the accused.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), an accused is entitled for grant of statutory bail if the probe agency fails to file the charge sheet after the conclusion of the investigation in the case within a period of 60 or 90 days.
In this case, the CBI 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, the law officer had said.
Wadhawan brothers were arrested
The Wadhawan brothers were arrested in the multi-crore scam on July 19 last year. The High Court, however, had clarified that it did not go into the merits of the case.
The charge sheet in the matter was filed on October 15, 2022, and cognisance was taken. The FIR in the case was based on a complaint made by the Union Bank of India.
It was alleged that DHFL, its then CMD Kapil Wadhawan, the then Director Dheeraj Wadhawan, and other accused individuals engaged in a criminal conspiracy to deceive a consortium of 17 banks led by the Union Bank of India. As part of this criminal conspiracy, the accused and others induced the consortium to approve substantial loans totaling Rs 42,871.42 crore.
The CBI claimed that a significant portion of that amount was purportedly siphoned off and misappropriated through alleged falsification of DHFL's books and dishonest default in repaying the legitimate dues of the consortium banks.
The complainant has alleged that a wrongful loss of Rs 34,615 crore was caused to the consortium banks in as much as such was the quantification of the outstanding dues as on July 31, 2020.
(With PTI inputs)
Also Read: Yes Bank fraud case: HC grants bail to Wadhawan brothers
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