The bench in its judgment stated that the Wadhawan brothers cannot claim the statutory right of default bail on the ground that the investigation is pending against other accused.
(Photo: DHFL)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail of Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan – former promoters of the Dewan Housing Finance Limited – accused in a multi-crore rupee bank loan scam case, holding that both the Delhi High Court and the trial court had erred in granting them bail.
Setting aside the Delhi High Court order granting bail to the Wadhawan brothers, a bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgment today said, “We have no hesitation in holding that the chargesheet having been filed in prescribed time and cognisance being taken, respondents (Wadhawan) could not have claimed statutory bail as a right. The High Court and lower court greatly erred. Trial court to hear afresh on regular bail. Appeals allowed accordingly.”
Reversing the concurrent orders of the High Court and that of the trial court, the bench in its judgment stated that the Wadhawan brothers cannot claim the statutory right of default bail on the ground that the investigation is pending against other accused.
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The top court order cancelling the bail of the Wadhawan brothers came on an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation which had challenged the Delhi High Court order granting them bail.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), an accused becomes entitled to the grant of default bail if the probe agency fails to file the chargesheet on the conclusion of the investigation in a criminal case within a 60- or 90-day period from arrest.
In this case, the CBI had filed the chargesheet on the 88th day after the registration of the FIR and the trial court granted default bail to Wadhawan brothers and the Delhi High Court upheld the order. The chargesheet was filed on October 15, 2022, and cognisance was taken. The trial court had granted bail to them noting that the chargesheet filed by the CBI is incomplete. They were arrested on July 19, 2023.
The FIR in the case was based on a complaint made by the Union Bank of India which headed a consortium of 14 banks that had given DHFL a huge loan between 2010 and 2018.
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