PMLA court refuses medical bail to DHFL promoters

DHFL promoters, Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, have been denied temporary bail on medical grounds by a special PMLA court in Mumbai. The court cited that the brothers had received the best medical care while in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai. The Wadhawans had requested transfer to Arthur Road jail and interim bail, claiming they had been granted bail in another case by the Supreme Court. The court refused, stating that such requests would interfere with jail administration, and that the jail authorities would decide where the accused would remain under judicial custody.

MUMBAI: The special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court has refused to grant temporary bail to DHFL (Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan on medical grounds.

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The court observed that Wadhawans were provided with best of medical facilities when they were lodged in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai before they were taken to Delhi.

On Monday, Wadhawans were brought to the city from Delhi and were shifted to Taloja jail. When they were produced before the special PMLA court, their lawyers urged the court to transfer them to Arthur Road jail in central Mumbai and sought their release on interim bail. They claimed that the brothers had been given interim bail in connection with another case by the Supreme Court.

Special judge MG Deshpande refused to grant them interim bail, observing that, “The application was preferred even prior to production of these two accused from Delhi contending that one of them was under treatment at AIIMS, Delhi. Still, the fact remains that he was not produced before this court directly from AIIMS, but he was produced through jail.

“Therefore, Taloja Jail authority will take utmost care of his health and on this ground itself, such direction (to release him on temporary bail) cannot be issued.”

“These two accused persons were in Taloja Jail right from the beginning till their transfer to Delhi. I am constrained to note that when they were in Taloja Jail, one of them had consumed maximum period of his judicial custody in Kokilaben Hospital. Ultimately, this court was constrained to call all high-level doctors of Kokilaben Hospital and directed them to file an affidavit. Thereafter, he was immediately discharged,” observed special judge Deshpande.

The court said that jail authorities will decide in which jail the accused will remain under judicial custody.

“If prayer of each and every accused person like the present one, that they should be lodged in a particular jail, is considered that will unnecessarily cause interference in the jail administration,” said the court.

The special court added that the superintendent of the Arthur Road jail has repeatedly communicated to the court that the jail was overcrowded and was housing undertrial prisoners around triple the capacity.