The Supreme Court of India has recently granted bail to Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan in a ₹57,000-crore bank fraud case. The Court noted that brothers have spent over five years in custody, even though all other co-accused in connected cases have been released on bail. The Court also said that the investigation against the two is complete.
The Bench further observed that the chargesheet ran into four lakh pages, listed 736 witnesses, and was accompanied by 17 trunks of documents and additional digital records exceeding two terabytes. It said that even if the trial is held daily, it could not be completed in less than two to three years.
The case started from loans and credit facilities worth ₹57,252 crore availed by DHFL, a non-banking financial company, from a consortium of 17 banks. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that ₹34,926 crore of this was siphoned off through shell companies linked to the Wadhawans.
The CBI registered an FIR in June 2022, accusing the promoters of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts and corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The first chargesheet was filed in October 2022 and the accused have been in custody since April 2020.
The Court rejected the government’s argument that delay in trial should not automatically lead to bail in economic offences, holding that constitutional rights must prevail when the prosecution is unable to ensure speedy proceedings.
The Court also examined Section 479 of the new Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which allows release of undertrials who have spent half of the maximum sentence in jail. It clarified that the provision was intended to decongest prisons, not to deny bail to those facing serious charges.
The Court ordered the release of Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan on strict conditions. They must each furnish a bond of ₹10 lakh with two sureties, surrender their passports, report to the local police once a month, and seek prior permission from the High Court before travelling abroad.
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