DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan’s bail plea rejected in Yes Bank scam

New Delhi: A special CBI court in Mumbai on Tuesday (April 28) rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the money laundering case involving Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor.

The Wadhawan brothers, who were arrested on April 26, have been remanded to CBI custody till April 29. The duo was arrested from Mahabaleshwar, a hill station more than 300km from Mumbai, nearly 50 days after they were booked in the multi-crore scam also involving former Yes Bank CEO and co-founder Rana Kapoor.

The central agency, while seeking the duos custody, said their interrogation was necessary to find details of transactions between DHFL, Yes Bank and other companies involved in the case.

Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawans counsel Amit Desai filed bail applications on Monday, telling the court his clients would appear before the agency for questioning as and when required and cooperate with the probe. The Wadhawans, while seeking bail, said they should not be put in jail in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court kept the bail pleas pending and said since the duo has been remanded to CBI custody for two days, the applications would be taken up for consideration at a later stage.

According to the CBI, Kapoor (62) entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Wadhawans for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for substantial undue benefits to himself and his family members through fictitious companies held by them.

As per the agency, the scam took place between April and June 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short- term debentures of the tainted Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).

In return, the Wadhawans allegedly paid kickbacks worth Rs 600 crore to Kapoor and his family members in form of loans to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Kapoor’s wife and children, the CBI has said.

Apart from the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also initiated a probe against Kapil Wadhawan on charges of money laundering after the scam came to light.

Kapil Wadhawan was arrested by the ED in January 2020 and later released on bail by a court.