Fraud Case
HC grants bail to Kapil, Dheeraj Wadhawan in YES Bank-Dewan Housing case
This story was originally published at 13:53 IST on 13 February 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd.'s former promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, who have been accused of money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate in the YES Bank fraud case. The Wadhawan brothers will have to report to the investigating officer of the Enforcement Directorate on the third Saturday of every month for the first six months after release, and thereafter as and when called, the court said.
"Considering the present status of the trial and no possibility of it being concluded in the foreseeable future coupled with the pretrial incarceration of the applicants beyond one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment which can be imposed on them upon conviction, applicants are entitled to bail," the court said. Once the undertrial – accused crosses half the maximum sentence, the rigours of the twin conditions contemplated under Section 45(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 would not apply and the applicant will be entitled to be released on bail, it added.
In this case, the maximum period for which the petitioners can be imprisoned is seven years, said the court. However, the petitioners have been in custody in connection with the present offence since May 14, 2020, for almost four years and nine months.
The enforcement agency had started a probe in the case after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a first information report in 2020. The CBI was probing dubious loans granted by YES Bank, alleging quid pro quo between the bank's founder Rana Kapoor and the Wadhawans.
In 2018, YES Bank had invested INR 37 billion in short-term debentures of Dewan Housing and Finance. Around the same time, Kapil Wadhwan had paid a kick-back of INR 6 billion to Kapoor and his family members by extending a loan of INR 6 billion by Dewan Housing to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAB Enterprises (India) Pvt. Ltd. in which Bindu Kapoor, wife of Rana Kapoor, was a director and 100% shareholder. Dewan Housing had not redeemed the amount of INR 37 billion invested by YES Bank in the debentures.
YES Bank also sanctioned a loan of INR 7.50 billion to RKW Developers, a Dewan Housing group company, for their Bandra Reclamation Project in Mumbai. The amount was siphoned off by Kapil Wadhwan since the entire amount was transferred by RKW Developers to Dewan Housing without investment in Bandra Reclamation Project for which loan was sanctioned.
At 1258 IST, shares of YES Bank Ltd were up 0.9% at INR 18.30 on the National Stock Exchange. End
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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