CBI likely to name Sanjay Dangi as an accused in DHFL case

Dangi submitted in court that his name does not appear anywhere in the chargesheets filed so far in the DHFL case, although he was earlier issued a summons to give evidence as a witness

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday informed the Bombay high court that it had decided to name stock market expert Sanjay Dangi as an accused in the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) case. Dangi, a director at Mumbai-based non-banking financial company Authum Investment and Infrastructure, was earlier a witness in the case involving a financial scandal worth over ₹34,000 crore at DHFL.

Stock market expert Sanjay Dangi

The CBI informed the court that it would soon file a chargesheet against Dangi and his wife, who are both non-executive promoter directors at Authum. This was after Dangi filed a petition seeking permission to travel to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Dangi submitted in court that his name does not appear anywhere in the chargesheets filed so far in the DHFL case, although he was earlier issued a summons to give evidence as a witness. He also pointed out that he had earlier been granted conditional permission to travel abroad, and he had returned to India without breaching any of the conditions.

A vacation bench of Justice Kamal Khata and Justice Shyam Chandak allowed Dangi to travel abroad, concurring with his submission he hadn’t been named an accused so far. The CBI’s last chargesheet in the case was filed in 2022. “It is not in dispute that in the chargesheets filed by the CBI against DHFL and others, at least as of today, the applicant (Dangi) is not arrayed as an accused,” said the bench. “Undisputedly, the applicant is not even shown as a witness.”

The court noted that travelling abroad is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. “If the applicant has not been arrayed as an accused, he should not be restrained from travelling abroad,” the bench said.

One of the major cases registered against DHFL and its promoters also involves Yes Bank. According to the CBI, between April and June 2018, Yes Bank had invested around ₹4,727 crore in short-term non-convertible debentures and Masala Bonds of DHFL.

The bank had also sanctioned a term loan of ₹750 crore to a DHFL group firm. In return, the then Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor received a kickback of ₹600 crore from DHFL in the form of a loan to his family firm, Do It Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited, the CBI claimed.