Delhi court rejects two sureties for DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan's bail bond

New Delhi: A local court has rejected a bail bond furnished by a surety for Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoter of Dewan Housing Finance, accused in an alleged loan fraud of Rs 34,614 crore by DHFL. Reason: the court held that the surety did not have "control over the accused".

"One of the major conditions (for granting bail) is to ascertain whether the surety has full control over the accused or not, and can produce him in the court as and when directed as well as on each date of hearing," the judge elaborated in the order passed last week. "The bond amount is only fixed to put some pressure or obligation upon the surety that he can be penalised in case the accused does not appear and his submission that he has full control over the accused proves otherwise."

ET has perused the order.

The court can reject a surety "who is having no control over the accused and such surety by simply submitting the FDRs equivalent to the bond amount cannot escape from his moral responsibilities", it said.

This is the second surety for Wadhawan to be rejected by the court.

Significantly, another surety who had previously furnished a bail bond for Wadhawan has been booked on charges of "filing false documents".

The order to register an FIR against the said surety, one Rajesh Kumar Anand, was passed by the same court on April 5. On directions of the court, the CBI had conducted an enquiry into the financial capacity of Anand who had furnished a bail bond of Rs 50 lakh.

In the probe, CBI had told the court that "it was found that he (Anand) was not financially sound and in fact had given forged documents to the court". Anand has challenged the order in the high court but failed to obtain a stay.

Another surety named Kapil Deo Sharma later furnished a bail bond for Wadhawan.

In his affidavit on the back of the bond, Sharma claimed that he knew Wadhawan for more than ten years.

While the court held that Sharma is financially strong to furnish the bail bond (of Rs 50 lakh), but his claim of knowing Wadhawan for the past ten years was found "prima facie not correct".

"His (Sharma's) admission made in his statement that he met the accused first time in 2015 (about eight years back) and only met him twice and his last contact with the accused was in the year 2017 itself falsify his stand taken in his affidavit submitted with the bail bond that he is a friend of the accused for last more than ten years," the order reads.

Although the counsel for CBI urged the court to initiate perjury proceedings against Sharma, the court let him off with a warning. "It is very strange that the family members or other relatives who must have better control over the accused are not coming forward to give bail bond for the accused," the court observed.