SC cancels bail of DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan in Rs 42,000 cr loan scam, orders surrender in two weeks
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the bail granted to former DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan in the multi-crore bank loan fraud case and directed him to surrender within two weeks.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after examining a medical board report, overruling the Delhi High Court’s decision of September 9, 2024, which had granted Wadhawan bail on medical grounds, declaring him a “sick person.”
The top court’s decision came in response to an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which argued that Wadhawan suffered from no serious medical ailments.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the CBI, told the court that large sums of money had been siphoned off in the case and the accused should not be out on bail.
Dheeraj Wadhawan, along with his brother Kapil Wadhawan, was arrested in July 2022 in connection with the scam. The CBI filed a chargesheet in October 2022, which was later taken on record by the trial court.
The FIR was registered on a complaint by Union Bank of India, which alleged that DHFL, under the leadership of chairman-cum-managing director Kapil Wadhawan and director Dheeraj Wadhawan, conspired to cheat a consortium of 17 banks led by Union Bank.
The accused allegedly induced the banks to sanction loans amounting to Rs 42,871.42 crore, most of which was siphoned off and misappropriated through falsified company records and wilful default on repayment, according to the CBI.