The Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail to Dheeraj Wadhwan
on medical grounds in a CBI case. He is accused in a multi-crore bank fraud
case.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain granted bail to Dheeraj Wadhawan after
hearing the bail application. Justice Jain said, "Petitioner falls under
the category of sick person." The trial court order is set aside, he
added.
On June 5, the Delhi High Court sought a status report on the
bail plea, which he sought on medical grounds. His bail plea was dismissed by the
trial court.
The vacation bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan had directed the CBI
to file a status report.
Senior advocate Amit Desai had appeared through video
conferencing and senior advocate Siddharth Agrawal appeared physically.
Advocate Anupam S Sharma appeared for CBI and opposed the bail application.
His earlier bail plea was withdrawn from Delhi High Court on May
17. He had moved his bail plea after his arrest in the DHFL Bank loan case. His
bail plea has been dismissed twice by the trial court.
The Rouse Avenue court's Special
Judge A K Sarpal on May 10 dismissed his bail application on the grounds of
maintainability. The court had also directed the CBI to arrest him after May 11
and to produce him before the CBI court as per the direction of the Supreme
Court passed on January 24.
While rejecting the bail application, the CBI Court at Rouse
Avenue said that the accused is at liberty to move a fresh bail application for
bail after he is arrested and comes into the custody of this court. At that
time, his request for a grant of interim bail on medical grounds or regular
bail, if moved, will be considered.
However, the bail application was dismissed by the court
following his arrest. The trial court also said that at this stage, the first
order of the Supreme Court of January 24, 2024, has to be complied with for
taking the accused into physical custody.
Earlier, he was granted protection by the Bombay High Court till
May 11 on medical grounds.
He was hospitalised and underwent surgery. He was receiving
treatment at his home after discharge from the hospital before his arrest.
The Supreme Court on January 24 set aside a Delhi High Court
order granting statutory bail to former Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. (DHFL)
promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with a
multi-crore rupee bank loan scam case. The apex court had cancelled the bail
granted to the Wadhawan brothers.
It said the High Court and trial court had erred in providing
default bail to the Wadhawans.
"We have no hesitation that the chargesheet having been
filed and cognisance being taken in due time, respondents could not have
claimed statutory bail as a right. The high court and lower court greatly
erred. Trial court to hear afresh on regular bail. Appeals allowed
accordingly," the bench said while pronouncing the order.
The top court had set aside the findings of the High Court and
the trial court, saying the Wadhawan brothers cannot claim the statutory right
of default bail on the ground that the investigation is pending against other
accused.
In this case, CBI had filed the chargesheet on the 88th day
after registration of the FIR and the trial court granted default bail to them
and the Delhi High Court upheld the order. The charge sheet was filed on
October 15, 2022, and cognisance was taken.
The trial court had granted bail
to them, noting that the charge sheet filed by the CBI is incomplete. On July
19, 2023, they were arrested in this case. The FIR in the case was based on a
complaint made by the Union Bank of India.