Yes Bank Case: Bombay HC rejects pre-arrest bail of DHFL honchos Kapil & Dheeraj Wadhawan

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan. They were sent to judicial custody after temporary bail was rejected by a special CBI court in Mumbai, on May 10. Earlier, the Wadhawans had filed an application seeking bail due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Mumbai’s jails. Meanwhile, the ED last week has also filed its first charge sheet in the Yes Bank money laundering case against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in a special court in Mumbai.

READ | Embattled Yes Bank's shares zoom 20% as it reports Rs 2,629 crore quarterly profit

Non-bailable warrant issued, lockdown flouted

On April 18, a Mumbai sessions court had issued a stay on the non-bailable warrants (NBWs) issued against them in the case registered by the CBI, which was vacated by the court on April 25. Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan recently broke lockdown to travel from Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar.

READ | Yes Bank Case: CBI court extends judicial custody of Kapil & Dheeraj Wadhawan till May 13

The brothers who had recently skipped ED summons citing Coronavirus had travelled to Mahabaleshwar along with 20 family members after receiving a clean-chit from the Special Principal Secretary of the Maharashtra Home Minister. While the state government has issued a probe into the violation, all 23 Wadhawans underwent quarantine for 14 days, before being released.

READ | Yes Bank case: CBI custody of DHFL promoters Kapil & Dhiraj Wadhawan extended till May 10

What is the Yes Bank crisis?

Yes Bank started facing a crisis as it accumulated many bad loans in 2018 by lending to corporate defaulters such as DHFL, Jet Airways, and Cafe Coffee day, among others. Moreover, when RBI refused to extend the term of founder Rana Kapoor as chief executive in 2018, its management was severely hit with his successor Ravneet Gill managing to raise only one round of funds through a share sale to institutional investors. Currently, the CBI and ED have been investigating several investors who had received loans from Rana Kapoor. Meanwhile, Yes Bank has been restructured by the RBI with SBI as a major stakeholder at 48.21%.

READ | ED files chargesheet against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in money laundering case