SC refuses to hear Rana Kapoor's bail plea in DHFL money-laundering case

Rana Kapoor is alleged to have received Rs 600 crore in bribe.

The Supreme Court on August 4 refused to hear the bail plea of former chairman and managing director of Yes Bank Rana Kapoor in a case of money laundering.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna said the allegations in the DHFL case had put Yes Bank through a lot of trouble, which even forced the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene. The court advised the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to complete the investigation and the trial at the earliest.

On July 14, the Supreme Court orally observed that the allegations against Kapoor had "rocked the credibility of India's banking system".

Kapoor moved the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court, which denied him bail in the DHFL money-laundering case. The high court said Kapoor was one of the main accused in the case, facing a "serious charge" of laundering public money.

Justice PD Naik of the Bombay High Court said Kapoor had misused his official position to gain undue financial benefits for himself, his family members and associates. It couldn’t ignore Kapoor's role in the crime as well as the magnitude and seriousness of the offence, it said.

Kapoor had sought bail on the grounds that he had been in custody since March 2020. The trial in the case would take a long time to commence and his custody was not necessary.

In 2018, Yes Bank allegedly invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of DHFL and sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to a subsidiary of the non-banking finance company.

Kapoor is also alleged to have received Rs 600 crore in bribes by extending a loan to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, a company wholly owned by RAB Enterprises, which in turn was owned by Kapoor's wife and daughters.

His first bail application was rejected by the High Court in February 2021.

Kapoor filed a second bail application, saying the maximum sentence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was seven years and since he had been in custody for three, he should be granted bail.