New Delhi, A Delhi court has refused to alter charges against Dewan Housing Finance Ltd’s former CMD Kapil Wadhawan, former director Dheeraj Wadhawan, businessman Ajay Ramesh Nawandar and others.
The trio, along with others, are accused in a bank fraud case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in June 2022 for allegedly defrauding a consortium of 17 banks to the tune of ₹ 34,000 crore. In an order dated October 29, the court said that it had specifically held earlier that the charge under Indian Penal Code Section 409 was not attracted against Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan. The court had framed charges under various penal provisions against 104 accused persons on July 30, while discharging five people.
He underlined that although a party may bring to the court’s notice facts or materials that could warrant the addition or alteration of a charge, no party has a vested right to seek such addition or alteration as a matter of right, as the power was exclusively vested in the court.
It was among the biggest banking loan frauds in the country, according to the agency. Special Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra, who was hearing CBI’s plea seeking amendment of charges against the Wadhawan brothers and Nawandar, said that the court cannot review its own order of framing charges except to the limited extent of correcting a clerical or typographical error. “It is also pertinent to note that this court cannot review its own order except to the limited extent of correcting a clerical or typographical error,” the judge said.
The court further refused to frame a charge for the substantive offence of criminal conspiracy against all accused in the case, saying it had earlier considered the evidence and framed charges against specific individuals.
