Loan Case : Delhi HC Grants Bail to Former Directer of DHFL

                The Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail 
to Dheeraj Wadhwan on medical grounds in a 
CBI case. He is accused in a multi-crore bank 
fraud case.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain granted bail to 
Dheeraj Wadhawan after hearing the bail 
application. Justice Jain said, "Petitioner falls 
under the category of sick person." The trial 
court 
order is set aside, he added.
On June 5, the Delhi High Court sought a 
status report on the bail plea, which he sought 
on medical grounds. His bail plea was 
dismissed by the trial court.
The vacation bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan 
had directed the CBI to file a status report.
Senior advocate Amit Desai had appeared 
through video conferencing and senior 
advocate Siddharth Agrawal appeared 
physically. Advocate Anupam S Sharma 
appeared for CBI 
and opposed the bail application.
His earlier bail plea was withdrawn from Delhi 
High Court on May 17. He had moved his bail 
plea after his arrest in the DHFL Bank loan 
case. His bail plea has been dismissed twice 
by the trial court.
The Rouse Avenue court's Special Judge A K 
Sarpal on May 10 dismissed his bail 
application on the grounds of maintainability. 
The court had also directed the CBI to arrest 
him after 
May 11 and to produce him before the CBI 
court as per the direction of the Supreme Court 
passed on January 24.
While rejecting the bail application, the CBI 
Court at Rouse Avenue said that the accused 
is at liberty to move a fresh bail application for 
bail after he is arrested and comes into the 
custody of this court. At that time, his request 
for a grant of interim bail on medical grounds 
or regular bail, if moved, will be considered.
However, the bail application was dismissed by 
the court following his arrest. The trial court 
also said that at this stage, the first order of 
the Supreme Court of January 24, 2024, has to 
be complied with for taking the accused into 
physical custody.
Earlier, he was granted protection by the 
Bombay High Court till May 11 on medical 
grounds.
He was hospitalised and underwent surgery. 
He was receiving treatment at his home after 
discharge from the hospital before his arrest.
The Supreme Court on January 24 set aside a 
Delhi High Court order granting statutory bail 
to former Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. (DHFL) 
promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his 
brother Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with 
a multi-crore rupee bank loan scam case. The 
apex court had cancelled the bail granted to 
the Wadhawan brothers.
It said the High Court and trial court had erred 
in providing default bail to the Wadhawans.
"We have no hesitation that the chargesheet 
having been filed and cognisance being taken 
in due time, respondents 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," the bench said while pronouncing 
the order.
The top court had set aside the findings of the 
High Court and the trial court, saying the 
Wadhawan brothers cannot claim the statutory 
right of default bail on the ground that the 
investigation is pending against other accused.
In this case, CBI had filed the chargesheet on 
the 88th day after registration of the FIR and 
the trial court granted default bail to them and 
the Delhi High Court upheld the order. The 
charge sheet was filed on October 15, 2022, 
and cognisance was taken.
The trial court had granted bail to them, noting 
that the charge sheet filed by the CBI is 
incomplete. On July 19, 2023, they were 
arrested in this case. The FIR in the case was 
based 
on a complaint made by the Union Bank of 
India.


Source : Business Standard