On Friday, the Apex Court agreed to examine the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s plea seeking the cancellation of bail for former Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan in the multi-crore bank loan fraud case. The Delhi high court in September 2024 granted Wadhawan medical bail.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna & Justice Sanjay Kumar issued notice on the CBI’s appeal against the high court order, seeking a response by the last week of April when the next hearing is scheduled.
Additional solicitor general SV Raju, representing the agency, said Wadhawan is a 45-year-old man with no history of serious ailments. “He is a man with money bags...he procured reports from private hospitals & secured the relief,” Raju said.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Wadhawan, cited medical reports detailing ailments. He added that his client had issues with kidneys, spine, & heart.
The DHFL case is considered one of the biggest banking frauds in India, involving the alleged misappropriation of ₹34,000 crore. The CBI said Wadhawan & his brother Kapil Wadhawan diverted funds from banks to entities under their control by sanctioning loans without due diligence or adequate security, manipulating the company’s financial records to conceal their fraudulent activities.
The Wadhawan brothers were arrested in July 2022. On December 3 of that year, a trial court granted them statutory bail, saying the CBI’s charge sheet against them & 73 other accused in October 2022 was incomplete. The high court upheld the trial court’s decision in May 2023.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court ordered the immediate arrest of the brothers setting aside the high court order, as the CBI filed its charge sheet within a 90-day statutory period.
The case originates from a first information report based on a Union Bank of India (UBI) complaint. The CBI said the Wadhawan brothers & other accused engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud a UBI-led consortium of 17 banks.
The agency alleged the accused induced the consortium to sanction loans amounting to ₹42,871.42 crore much of which was siphoned off & misappropriated through falsification of DHFL’s financial records & wilful default on repayments.
Dheeraj Wadhawan’s earlier bail plea was withdrawn from the high court in May 2023 after the trial court dismissed it twice. The trial court rejected his bail application, citing maintainability issues. It directed the CBI to arrest him & produce him before the CBI court in compliance with the Supreme Court’s January 2024 order.
The trial court said Wadhawan could move a fresh bail plea once he was in custody when his request for interim or regular bail could be reconsidered. It dismissed his bail application following his arrest. He later approached the high court requesting medical bail.
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