DHFL case: Expeditiously decide Kapil Wadhawan bail plea, SC tells Delhi HC

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to decide within two weeks the bail plea of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd's former promoter Kapil Wadhawan in the multi-crore bank fraud case investigated by the CBI.

A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan said Wadhawan was in custody since July, 2022 and his bail plea was coming up for hearing on July 18 in the high court.

The bench asked the high court to decide the bail plea within two weeks from the date of hearing.

Wadhawan moved the top court aggrieved by the orders of adjournment in his bail plea by the high court and sought an expeditious disposal of his petition.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Kapil Wadhawan, referred to his client's long custody period aside from the non-adjudication on his bail plea on multiple occasions.

The Wadhawan brothers -- Kapil and Dheeraj -- were arrested in this case on July 19, 2022.

Dheeraj was granted interim bail by the high court on September 9, last year on medical grounds.

The chargesheet was filed by the CBI on October 15, 2022 and cognisance was taken by the trial court.

The FIR in the case was based on a complaint made by the Union Bank of India.

The CBI alleged that Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), its then CMD Kapil, then director Dheeraj and other accused persons conspired to cheat the consortium of 17 banks led by the Union Bank of India.

The accused and others induced the consortium to sanction huge loans aggregating Rs 42,871.42 crore.

Much of the amount was allegedly siphoned off and misappropriated by alleged falsification of the books of the DHFL and dishonest default in repayment of the legitimate dues of the consortium banks, the CBI claimed.

The complainant alleged that a wrongful loss of Rs 34,615 crore was caused to the consortium banks in as much as such was the quantification of the outstanding dues as on July 31, 2020.