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Informist, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court has granted bail to Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, former chairmen of the erstwhile Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd., in a bank loan fraud case in which the Central Bureau of Investigation had alleged that the two had siphoned off INR 349.26 billion through shell companies. The court said based on the number of witnesses and the orders passed by the lower courts, it appears that if the case is taken up on a day-to-day basis, there is no conclusion possible in two or even three years.

 

The top court put certain restrictions on the Wadhawan brothers for getting bail in the bank loan fraud case. The Wadhawan brothers shall disclose their place of residence and contact number to the concerned jurisdictional trial court as well as the police station where they would stay, within one week of their release, said the court. They shall mark their presence in the jurisdictional police station once a month and after framing of charges, before the trial court on the dates as specified, said the court. The petitioners shall not leave the territorial jurisdiction of the country without the prior permission of the high court and shall surrender their passports with the concerned trial court within two days of their release, the court added.

 

The court said that the case was based on documentary evidence, and all the accused persons connected with the alleged companies committing fraud, except the petitioners, have been granted bail. The chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation is voluminous in nature containing more than 400,000 pages and having 736 witnesses, said the court. 

 

The apex court rejected the probe agency's argument that delay in investigation and trial does not give the benefit to accused in granting bail if the person is charged with grave charges having punishment of life imprisonment or death penalty. The interpretation provided by the probe agency would mean that once an accused is charged with charges having punishment of life imprisonment or death penalty, then such accused cannot be granted bail in all such cases, inspite of the fact that he has completed a substantial period of incarceration as under-trial. This interpretation has to be refuted as being restrictive and anti-liberty, the court added.

 

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation's First Information Report, Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan, along with others, allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat a consortium of 17 banks led by Union Bank of India. The Wadhawan brothers and others allegedly siphoned off and misappropriated a significant portion of the funds by falsifying the books of Dewan Housing.

 

According to the FIR, the accused deliberately and dishonestly defaulted on dues, causing a wrongful loss of about INR 349.26 billion to the consortium of lenders from January 2010 to December 2019. The Delhi High Court had rejected bail pleas of Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in August and September, respectively.

 

On Tuesday, shares of Union Bank of India were down 0.3% at INR 153.20 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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