The bench dismissed the Wadhawans’ pleas as withdrawn. (File)
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the DHFL promoters’ early bail pleas, Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan, in a Yes Bank money laundering case under consideration by the Law Enforcement Branch ( ED).
The Wadhawans, now arrested, challenged the May 12 order of the Bombay High Court dismissing their plea for provisional release.
A bench of judges Sanjay Kishan Kaul and B R Gavai rejected a batch of four pleas after lead counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Wadhawans, said he was not insisting on his prayer for relief.
Rohatgi said that while he is not pushing for early bail, the High Court made some unwarranted remarks in his order.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the DE, said that the two accused were arrested and therefore their plea for early bail becomes unsuccessful.
“After a few arguments, the lead counsel for the petitioner (s), on instructions, does not request an advance bond, but is concerned about certain observations made in the disputed order (s) as petitioner (s).
“It goes without saying that all of the submissions made in the challenged order (s) are for the purpose of provisional release and will not prejudice the case of the petitioner (s) at trial or any other legal process available to them” . said the bench in its order.
The bench dismissed the Wadhawans’ pleas as withdrawn.
The High Court had refused to grant bail to the DHFL promoters before the arrest, noting that their interrogation in custody was necessary to unearth the plot and the modus operandi in the multi-crore scam.
Wadhawans are in jail after being arrested earlier by the CBI in a separate case related to the Yes Bank scam.
They had asked the High Court to obtain an advance bond in the money laundering case and in another case concerning alleged irregularities in the placement of the employee provident fund of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL ).
The High Court noted in its order that the applicants did not cooperate with the legal proceedings and that the ED had sent several summonses to appear to Kapil and Dheeraj to request their presence for questioning in the cases.
The court said that although the Wadhawans responded to the notices and notices issued to them by the DE, they evaded the investigation by not appearing before the agency.
The response to the summons speaks of an apathetic and indifferent approach. The applicants’ casual approach can be noted in their response to the prosecution, the court said.
Counsel for the Wadhawans had argued before the High Court that no money laundering case had been established and that the transactions in question had been made in the normal course of business.
They had argued that there were no cases of arrests or arrest warrants at this stage for his clients in the midst of the COVID-19 foreclosure for a financial issue that is the subject of an investigation. investigation for six months.
The Wadhawans have claimed that they have become the “scapegoat for the political dilemma” in the state.
The court, however, refused to accept the excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic and said that it will not deter DE from investigating a serious money laundering offense that has shaken the economy of this country.
According to the CBI FIR, the scam started to take shape between April and June 2018 when Yes Bank invested 3,700 crore rupees in DHFL short-term debentures, a scam.
In return, the Wadhawans allegedly “paid dividends of 600 crore rupees” to former Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor and members of his family in the form of loans to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd owned by the wife and daughters of Kapoor, the CBI claimed.
