The special CBI court on Friday (August 14,2020) rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in a cheating and criminal conspiracy case registered against him by the CBI. The application was filed in June this year before the special CBI court in connection with the case registered against Rana Kapoor over his alleged deals with Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).
While seeking pre-arrest bail, Advocates Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav on behalf of the applicant argued that the anticipatory bail plea was filed while the investigation was in progress, however, before his plea was heard, the central agency had filed its charge sheet in the case. They said that once the charge sheet is filed, the agency is not entitled to get police custody. However, the Court refused to accept the contentions and also noted that there is a reasonable ground available to show that custodial interrogation of Kapoor is required by the agency.
The Centre, through special public prosecutor Ashok Bagoria, said that since it is a serious economic offense, Kapoor is not entitled to prearrest bail. The public prosecutor also argued that the CBI had asked for further investigation about the role of Yes bank employees in its charge sheet.
According to the central agency, Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank between April and June 2018. The Bank made Rs 3,700 crore investment in short-term debentures of the scam-hit DHFL. In return, Wadhawan allegedly “paid a kickback of Rs 600 crore” to Kapoor in the form of loans sanctioned to DoIT Urban Ventures, a subsidiary firm of RAB Enterprises which was controlled by Kapoor’s wife and daughters, the CBI stated. The loan was sanction on the mortgage of sub-standard property having meager value. Further, the agency also claimed another conspiracy involving Yes Bank and DHFL where a loan of ₹750 crores was sanctioned to M/s RKW developers which are DHFL company allegedly for the purpose of Bandra Reclamation project.
The special judge SU Wadagaonkar while accepting the Centre’s submissions rejected the plea considering the gravity of the offense. It also observed that the applicant is the principal accused and played an active role in the crime involving multi-crore bank fraud.
Rana Kapoor is currently in judicial custody in connection with the Enforcement Directorate case against him in the Yes Bank fraud.
