DHFL Scam: Supreme Court grants bail to businessman Ajay Nawandar

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to businessman Ajay Ramesh Chandra Nawandar in the ₹34,615 crore Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) bank loan scam case [Ajay Ramesh Chandra Nawandar v. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)].

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale today concluded that a definite case for bail was made out by Nawandar.

The Court had earlier allowed him to remain in a private hospital for the purpose of undergoing treatment.

The DHFL bank fraud case involves allegations that several accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat a consortium of seventeen banks led by the Union Bank of India.

Among those accused in the case are the former promoters of DHFL Bank, Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan.

Nawandar was arrested in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after paintings and jewellery worth crores were recovered from him.

It was alleged that these valuable assets were purchased using misappropriated money and kept in Nawandar's premises to avoid their recovery during raids by law enforcement agencies.

On May 31 this year, the Delhi High Court dismissed Nawandar's bail plea after noting that the businessman was an influential person with substantial sway in Mumbai and other areas of Maharashtra. The High Court had opined that if he were to be released on bail, there is every likelihood that he would influence witnesses.

Before this, the trial court had also denied bail to Nawandar.

Aggrieved, Nawandar had approached the top court for relief, which granted him bail today.

Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Devadatt Kamat and advocates Hemant Shah, Nitin Saluja, Adit Pujari, Rupali Samuel, Simran Khurana and Ishita Soni, appeared for Nawandar.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj and advocates Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Chitransh Sharma, Vinayak Shartma and Vatsal Joshi, appeared for the CBI.

The Wadhawan brothers (co-accused in the loan fraud case) are presently in jail. In January this year, the top court cancelled the default bail granted to them in the multi-crore scam case.

At the time, the Court had noted that the chargesheet against the two accused was filed within time and that the relevant trial court had taken cognisance of the charges within time. As such, the Bench held that the Wadhawan brothers could not have claimed statutory bail as a right.

[Read order]