Mumbai: Almost four years after his arrest in April 2020, the special court hearing the Yes Bank-DHFL case, on Thursday granted bail to the former director of DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan, on the ground of long incarceration in prison without trial.
Special Judge AC Dagga, while granting bail to Wadhawan observed that economic offences have an adverse impact on society, but the accused cannot be “detained for years together without any ray of hope that the trial is going to start”.
Prolong incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted as it will go against the right to life and personal liberty enshrined in the Constitution, the court said.
“It is the duty of the prosecution to commence with the trial and it is the right of the accused of speedy trial. In this matter, the accused is in custody for around four and half years without trial being started, coupled with the fact that the co-accused having much higher role in the offence namely Rana Kapoor being released on bail,” the special court said adding that the investigation against applicant/accused is completed.
“As such, his custody is not required for the purpose of investigation,” the court said.
Even after having granted bail, Wadhawan may take little long to come out of prison owing to his involvement in other cases, where he still has to obtain bail.
CBI had registered a case on March 7, 2020, in connection with suspicious loans granted by Yes Bank and quid pro quo between Kapoor and Wadhawans. CBI, in its FIR against Wadhawan brothers, had stated that Yes Bank had invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures in DHFL, which has not been redeemed till date, for which the Wadhawans had paid a kickback of Rs 600 crore to Rana Kapoor in the form of a loan to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd – a company registered in the name of Kapoor’s daughters. The bank gave another loan of Rs750 crore to a firm controlled by Wadhawans.
