The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected a bail plea filed by the Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s wife Bindu, her daughters Roshini Kapoor and Radha Kapoor-Khanna, and a former bank senior executive Rajiv Anand, in the financial irregularities pertaining to the Dewan Housing Financials Ltd. (DHFL) cases.
While rejecting their bail pleas, Justice Bharati Dangre observed that the petitioners faced serious offences which have “resulted in serious dent to the financial health of the State’ and defrauding the public at large.
The court further said that such ‘heinous’ offences seem to be “occurring in plenty” leading to “stultifying overall growth of the nation…and causing tremendous impairment to the economy of the nation”.
Moreover, the CBI had opposed the bail plea on grounds that the accused are influential and affluent persons, and the probable witnesses are employees who may be influenced, and evidence may be tampered with if they (the accused) are enlarged on bail.
The petitioners had earlier moved a Special CBI Court which dismissed their pleas. The accused are currently in judicial custody till October 1.
Senior Advocates Mahesh Jethmalani, Amit Desi and Aabad Ponda represented the applicants while the CBI was represented by its counsel Hiten S. Venegaonkar.
The CBI has contended that between April-June 2018, the Yes Bank had invested Rs.3,700-crore in short-term debentures of DHFL and in return, the latter paid alleged kickbacks of Rs.900-crore to Kapoor in the form of loans to a company, DoIT Urban Ventures Ltd, owned and controlled by his wife and their daughters.
It may be recalled that on June 25, 2020 the CBI filed a charge sheet against Yes Bank’s founder Rana Kapoor, M/s Dewan Housing Finance Ltd, its promoters Kapil Rajesh Wadhawan, Dheeraj Rajesh Wadhawan and M/s DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt. Ltd (DUVIPL), its promoter Ms. Roshni Kapoor and others in the in the Rs.3,700-crore Yes Bank fraud case.
The CBI had earlier filed the charge sheet in connection with a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy registered on March 7, 2020 against Kapoor and his family members for allegedly colluding with DHFL’s promoter Kapil Wadhwan and his family members.
The CBI is investigating the “conspiracy” between Kapoor and Kapil Wadhwan over a financial assistance extended to DHFL through Yes Bank in lieu of substantial undue benefit.