'Serious Dent To The Financial Health Of State': Bombay High Court Denies Bail For Rana Kapoor's Wife & Daughters In Yes Bank- DHFL Scam

Justice Bharati Dangre observed that the applicants are alleged to have indulged in the commission of offences, which have resulted in a serious dent to the financial health of the State as well as defrauding the public at large.

"It is only upon the presentation of the charge-sheet, where the full material is compiled together, the gravity of the offence could be judged and, the possibility of conviction of an accused being surfaced on the basis of the material coming before the Court in a crystallized form, prompted the learned Special Judge to reject the application for bail."

Justice Bharati Dangre continued to observe as follows:

The bail application of Rajiv Anand, the Group President and Business Head of Yes Bank was also rejected by the court.

The trio had earlier sought bail stating that they had extended "fullest cooperation to CBI". Also, they argued that the grant of bail in their circumstances is settled law since they were not arrested at the time of investigation and that they were entitled to bail.

Radha Kapoor, the mother of two children, one of them an infant, claimed that her "sudden" and "unjustifiable incarceration" is likely to cause "inexcusable and unspeakable damage" to the physical and mental wellbeing of her young child.

However, CBI's counsel Hiten Venegaonkar justified their incarceration. He argued that the special court could direct the accused to judicial custody once cognisance of the charge sheet was taken and the trial was yet to begin.

Venegaonkar argued that after being taken into custody by the Special Court, all parameters of 439 CrPC would apply, hence considering the merits and role of the accused, the CBI court was right in taking them in custody.

According to the CBI, during 2018- 2019, Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd for providing the latter's companies financial assistance in lieu of "substantial undue benefit" to Kapoor and his family, through companies held by them.

The trio approached the court assailing the order of the Special Court from September 19, rejecting their bail applications.

After the Special Court took cognisance of CBI's supplementary charge sheet against them earlier this year, they were summoned to appear as accused. They appeared personally on September 4, 2021, and sought bail under section 439 of the CrPC.

Rejecting their bail pleas, Special Judge SU Wadgoankar had observed that prima facie they are involved in a grave and serious economic offence which caused a loss of around Rs.4000 crores to the public at large including poor bank depositors.

"So, the accused/applicants involved in grave offence affecting the economy of the country and continue to reap benefits of the crime committed by them don't deserve any indulgence and any sympathy for them being women or mothers of small kids...," the court had then observed.

Grounds For Bail

In addition to the grounds before the Special Court, they claimed that their case fits squarely under the authoritative pronouncement in Aman Preet Singh's case.

"It is settled law that the very circumstance of an accused person not having been arrested by police during the investigation is sufficient to entitle him/her to be released on bail upon their appearance before the court in pursuance to the summons," they said in the application.

The petitioners said that they were entitled to a lenient view for bail because they were women. As per them, the statute mandates leniency towards women in matters of bail.

They further claimed that the Enforcement Directorate has already attached properties and bank accounts of theirs to the tune of Rs.600 crores under various provisional attachment orders and that the Special PMLA court has already granted them bail.

Background

According to the prosecution, from April to June 2018, YES Bank invested Rs.3700 Crores in short-term debentures of DHFL and simultaneously Kapil Wadhawan paid a kickback of Rs. 600 Crores under the garb of loan to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt. Ltd. (DUVPL). Kapoor's wife and two daughters are 100% shareholders of DUVPL through another company, Morgan Credits Private.

Appearances – Senior Advocates Amit Desai, Mahesh Jethmalani and Aabad Ponda along with Archit Jaykar instructed by Jaykar and Partners

Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar for the CBI

Case Title: Bindu Kapoor & Ors V. CBI, EO-1, Delhi

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