Default bail, if chargesheet not filed by 61st/91st day

New Delhi: Dismissing an appeal of the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the 60/90-day duration for the grant of default bail in a criminal case will include the remand period.

A bench of Justices KM Joseph, Hrishikesh Roy and BV Nagarathna dismissed the appeal filed by the ED challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to former DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in a Yes Bank money laundering case being probed by the agency. 

"The remand period will be calculated from the date, magistrate remand the accused. An accused becomes entitled to default bail if the charge sheet is not filed by 61st or 91st day of the remand period", the bench said. The three-judge bench answered the larger issue referred to it by a two-judge bench in 2021. It directed the pending petitions pertaining to the case be placed before a two-judge bench. The top court had on February 9, reserved its verdict on the appeal of ED.

On February 23, 2021, the top court had referred to larger bench the legal question that whether the day on which an accused is remanded to custody should be included while calculating the 60-day period for the grant of default bail.

The legal issue had arisen during the hearing of an ED's appeal against a Bombay High Court order granting bail to the former promoters of the Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL).

In September 2020, the top court had stayed a Bombay High Court order granting bail to the promoters.