Dismissing an appeal by the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court on Monday held that the period of 60/90 days for grant of natural bail in a criminal case shall also include the remand period.
A bench of Justice KM Joseph, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice BV Nagaratna dismissed the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to former DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the Yes Bank money laundering case. Rejected. ED is probing the matter.
The bench said, “The period of remand will be counted from the date on which the Magistrate sends the accused on remand. If the charge sheet is not filed in a case by the 61st or 91st day of the remand period, the accused becomes entitled to natural bail. It directed that the pending petitions relating to the matter be referred before a two-judge bench.
The apex court had on February 9 reserved its verdict on the ED’s appeal. The apex court on February 23, 2021 referred to a larger bench the legal question whether the day on which the accused is sent to custody should be included in counting the period of 60 days for grant of natural bail.
The legal issue came up during the hearing of an appeal by the ED against the Bombay High Court order granting bail to former promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL).
In September 2020, the apex court had stayed the Bombay High Court order granting bail to both the promoters. Supreme Court issues notice to accused on ED’s plea against High Court order of bail. The Bombay High Court, while granting bail to the Wadhawan brothers on August 20, 2020, had said that natural bail is granted if the charge sheet is not filed.
The High Court had said that the ED could not file the chargesheet in the case within a period of 60 days. The ED then filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court.
The agency said it did not violate procedure and submitted a part of the chargesheet by email a day before the expiry of the 60-day period. The ED had directly filed the charge sheet on July 13, 2020.
