Yes Bank Scam: SC Stays Bail Granted To Wadhawan Brothers By Bombay HC Till Oct 7 [Read Order]

The bail granted to DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan by the Bombay High Court in the case pertaining to the Yes Bank Scam, was stayed by Top Court on Thursday.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Ajay Rastogi & Aniruddha Bose said that it would examine the legal issues involved in the Wadhawans' bail plea and stayed order of the Bombay High Court granting bail to the Wadhawan brothers till October 7, which is the next date of hearing. While doing so, the court also issued notice to the Directorate of Enforcement.

The two Wadhawan brothers have been booked by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Yes Bank scam. Yes Bank started facing a crisis as it accumulated many bad loans in 2018 by lending to corporate defaulters such as DHFL, Jet Airways, and Cafe Coffee day, among others.

On August 21, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhwan and Dheeraj Wadhwan in the Enforcement Directorate's case of money laundering registered against them as the agency failed to file a chargesheet within 60 days from the date of remand. However, the Wadhwan brothers were to continue to remain in jail as the CBI has another case registered against them.

Justice Bharati Dangre heard the bail applications filed by the brothers who are accused in the Yes Bank fraud case. Both the applicants are arraigned as accused in the same ECIR registered by Enforcement Directorate on March 7, 2020.

They were confined in judicial custody since May 10 in relation to the said case registered by the CBI. On May 14, the applicants were produced before the Special Court, Mumbai and were remanded to police custody. Thereafter, they applied for default bail on July 13 and the lower court judge denied the request. The ED filed charge sheet also on July 13. He concluded that the period within which the investigation was to be completed will be starting from May 15, meaning that the first day of remand will be excluded.

While allowing the bail, the Court noted,

"As a corollary to the aforesaid discussion, the impugned order passed by the Sessions Judge, excluding the first day of remand while computing the period of 60 days cannot be sustained and is liable to be set aside and the filing of the chargesheet by the Directorate of Enforcement on 13th July 2020, being after of 60 days, by excluding the day of remand i.e. 14th May 2020, make the applicants entitled for default bail. They deserve to be released on bail in light of the right conferred u/s.167(2)(a) (ii), if they are prepared to and furnish the bail."

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