NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed Delhi high court order granting default bail to former DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan in a multi-crore bank fraud case and directed that they be taken into custody immediately.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said the trial court and high court erred in granting them default bail by invoking the ground that the chargesheet filed by CBI within the statutory time limit was incomplete as the probe in the case was still on.
“We have no hesitation in holding that the chargesheet having been filed against the respondent accused in the prescribed time limit and cognisance taken by the special court of the offences allegedly 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,” Justice Trivedi said while reading out the operative portion of the judgment.
Kapil Wadhawan was the Chairman & MD of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) and Dheeraj Wadhawan one of directors of the company. They were formally arrested by CBI on July 19, 2022. FIR was registered against them and other unknown persons including public servants, for entering into a criminal conspiracy for cheating and inducing a consortium of 17 banks, led by Union Bank of India (UBI), to sanction huge loans aggregating to Rs 42,000 crore.
The agency accused them of siphoning off and misappropriating a significant portion of these funds by falsifying the books of account of DHFL and deliberately and dishonestly defaulting on repayment of the legitimate dues, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 34,000 crores to the consortium lenders during the period Jan, 2010 to Dec, 2019.
The trial court had granted them default bail on Dec 3, 2022, holding that the chargesheet, though filed within the stipulated time, is incomplete and hence the respondents were entitled to mandatory bail as per law. The order was upheld by Delhi high court.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said the trial court and high court erred in granting them default bail by invoking the ground that the chargesheet filed by CBI within the statutory time limit was incomplete as the probe in the case was still on.
“We have no hesitation in holding that the chargesheet having been filed against the respondent accused in the prescribed time limit and cognisance taken by the special court of the offences allegedly 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,” Justice Trivedi said while reading out the operative portion of the judgment.
Kapil Wadhawan was the Chairman & MD of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) and Dheeraj Wadhawan one of directors of the company. They were formally arrested by CBI on July 19, 2022. FIR was registered against them and other unknown persons including public servants, for entering into a criminal conspiracy for cheating and inducing a consortium of 17 banks, led by Union Bank of India (UBI), to sanction huge loans aggregating to Rs 42,000 crore.
The agency accused them of siphoning off and misappropriating a significant portion of these funds by falsifying the books of account of DHFL and deliberately and dishonestly defaulting on repayment of the legitimate dues, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 34,000 crores to the consortium lenders during the period Jan, 2010 to Dec, 2019.
The trial court had granted them default bail on Dec 3, 2022, holding that the chargesheet, though filed within the stipulated time, is incomplete and hence the respondents were entitled to mandatory bail as per law. The order was upheld by Delhi high court.