Bank Loan Scam: SC Cancels Statutory Bail to DHFL’s Wadhawans

The judgment by the apex court followed a plea by CBI assailing the statutory bail granted by lower courts to Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in the multi-crore bank loan scam case, writes ETV Bharat's Sumit Saxena.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court Wednesday cancelled the statutory bail granted by courts below 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 led by Justice Bela M Trivedi said that the court has no hesitation that the chargesheet having been filed and cognisance being taken in due time, Wadhawan brothers could not have claimed statutory bail as a right. The apex court stressed that the high court and the lower court erred and the trial court can hear the matter afresh on regular bail.

The apex court judgment came on a plea by CBI assailing the statutory bail granted by lower courts to Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in connection with a multi-crore rupees bank loan scam case. The detailed judgment in the matter will be uploaded later in the day.

During the hearing, the apex court was told by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, representing the CBI, 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 becomes entitled for the grant of statutory bail if the probe agency fails to file the charge sheet on conclusion of the investigation in a criminal case within 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.

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