SC stays Bombay HC order granting bail to Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan

An apex court bench said that it would examine the legal issues involved in the Wadhawans’ bail plea

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday stayed the bail order granted by Bombay High Court (HC) to DHFL promoters, the Wadhawan brothers—Kapil and Dheeraj—until October 7. The Bombay HC had granted them bail in the money laundering case registered against them by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Yes Bank scam.

DHFL Promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan. (Vijayanand Gupta/HT Photo)

An apex court bench, headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul while staying the Bombay HC’s August 20 judgement, said that it would examine the legal issues involved in the Wadhawans’ bail plea.

The HC had granted bail to the Wadhawans on the ground that ED had failed to file its charge sheet within the 60-day stipulated time frame in line with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The brothers were remanded to custody on May 14 and the 60th day expired on July 12.

ED had filed its charge sheet on the following day, July 13.

According to section 167 of the CrPC, an accused will be entitled to bail by default, if the investigating authority fails to file charge sheet within 60 days from the date of remand.

Earlier, the HC had ruled in favour of the brothers and had stated that “excluding the first day of remand while computing the period of 60 days cannot be sustained and is liable to be set aside”.

On Thursday, Justice Kaul said that the legal questions relating to the remand period must be examined threadbare.

“There are two issues. The first issue is whether the date on which the accused is remanded should be excluded while computing the 60 days. The second issue is whether weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) should be excluded. These are the issues we would like to examine and interpret,” he said.

The Wadhawans had not been released from jail even though the HC had granted them bail since they are also accused in another case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).