Bank loan fraud case: SC cancels bail granted to former DHFL promoters Wadhawans

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 24) axed the bail given to former DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in a multi-crore-rupee bank loan scam case.

Justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma said the high court and the trial court committed error in granting them bail.

Flawed ruling

"We have no hesitation that the chargesheet having been filed and cognisance being taken in due time, (the) respondents could not have claimed statutory bail as a right," the bench said.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, an accused is entitled for statutory bail if the probe agency doesn’t file a chargesheet at the end of investigation in a criminal case within 60 or 90 days.

Default bail

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

The Wadhawan brothers were arrested on July 19 last year. The chargesheet was filed on October 15, 2022.

The FIR was based on a complaint made by the Union Bank of India.

(With agency inputs)