Ex-DHFL promoters Wadhawan brothers get bail in multi-crore scam

A court in New Delhi has granted bail to former promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL)-- Kapil Rajesh Wadhawan and Dheeraj Rajesh Wadhawan -- in a multi-crore scam case.

Granting the bail after the hearing on Friday, Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh said: "In the present case as well, the applicant/accused persons- Kapil Rajesh Wadhawan and Dheeraj Rajesh Wadhawan were not arrested during the investigation. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against them without arrest. Investigation Officer (IO) in his reply to the bail applications has stated that there is no requirement of custody".

As per the FIR, Wadhawans were charged under sections 420, (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust) 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 120-B (criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), in connection with an agreement of selling flats under a project "Shubhkamna - Advert Techomes" at Noida.

Petitioners' counsel submitted that their clients are currently lodged in Mumbai Jail in another FIR related to Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) fraud case and argued there is no question of them fleeing or tampering with the evidence. On the other hand, the prosecution argued that DHFL allowed Shubhkamna Builtech Private Ltd. to divert public money and loan amounts sanctioned by DHFL to individual home buyers were routed back to DHFL through an escrow account causing wrongful gain to DHFL and wrongful loss to the home buyers.

Last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the Wadhawan brothers, who were charged with multiple financial anomalies, in connection with a scam linked to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

According to the central probe agency FIR, the Wadhawan brothers had created fake home loan accounts amounting to over Rs 14,000 crore and availed Rs 1,880 crore in interest subsidy from the Central government.