The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with the Yes Bank fraud case, PTI reported. The Enforcement Directorate has accused the Wadhwan brothers of money laundering.
However, the brothers will not come out of prison as they have also been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the same case.
The bail came after the Enforcement Directorate failed to file a chargesheet against them within a stipulated 60-day time period. Judge Bharati Dangre directed the brothers to surrender their passports to the investigators and deposit Rs 1 lakh each as surety amount.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh asked the court to stay the bail for at least two weeks, according to the Hindustan Times. However, the court refused and said that an accused cannot be kept in custody once they have the right to default bail. An accused has the right to default bail if the probing agency fails to file a chargesheet within the period as mentioned in Section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The Wadhwan brothers were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on April 26. They were again arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on May 14 in connection with the same fraud case.
According to the CBI case, Yes Bank invested around Rs 3,700 crore in DHFL around the same time it granted a Rs 600-crore loan to a company called DoIT Urban Ventures Private Limited, owned by Rana Kapoor’s three daughters – Roshni Kapoor, Rakhee Kapoor Tandon and Radha Kapoor. The CBI has alleged that Rana Kapoor, in criminal conspiracy with Kapil Wadhawan and others, had invested in DHFL through Yes Bank to gain undue benefits for himself and his family.
The Reserve Bank of India had in March taken control of Yes Bank, after the lender – which is laden with bad debts – failed to raise the capital it needs to stay above mandated regulatory requirements. Placing Yes Bank under a 30-day moratorium, the central bank had imposed a limit of Rs 50,000 on withdrawals to protect depositors.
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