Bombay HC seeks CBI reply to DHFL promoter Wadhawan’s plea against order to shift him to J J Hospital

Wadhawan was arrested by CBI in 2020 in connection with the Yes Bank case and later by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“The superintendent of Taloja Central Jail is directed to immediately shift accused Dheeraj Wadhawan to J J Hospital, Mumbai, for treatment. Concerned doctors of J J Hospital are directed to examine the accused. If he needs hospitalisation, he will be admitted in J J Hospital and in that regard, a report be placed (before) this court,” the special CBI judge had noted last Thursday. The CBI court had sought an explanation from the Taloja jail superintendent on how Wadhawan was shifted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital without its permission.

The special CBI court had passed an order in response to the CBI’s plea, which stated that there was no medical exigency to keep Wadhawan in the private hospital for 15 months.

Last Tuesday, another court designated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), hearing a plea in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case against Wadhawan, was told that the private hospital has proposed that Wadhawan needs to undergo a surgery, as he is suffering from severe nasal congestion and has difficulty in breathing.

On Tuesday, senior advocates Amit Desai, Aabad Ponda and advocate Kushal Mor, representing Wadhawan, claimed that the order passed by special CBI court contained “judicial impropriety,” and while Wadhawan was in judicial custody of both CBI and PMLA Courts, the PMLA court had directed his transfer to privately run Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital ahd had been monitoring his health condition every 15 days.

Wadhawan claimed that CBI and ED courts have concurrent jurisdictions, therefore one cannot rule the other.

Wadhawan was not out on medical bail and he was transferred to private hospital for medical treatment, therefore special CBI court erred while passing the order, the plea said.

Desai added that the special judge had passed an ex-parte order on CBI’s plea and directed transfer from private hospital to state-run hospital and the CBI court was incorrect to conclude that because it had a primary jurisdiction, the order by PMLA Court was null and void.

“If two sessions judges act like this and are sitting and passing orders against each other, then the justice system collapses,” Desai argued and said that the special CBI court order was passed by an “egotist.”

Ponda said that PMLA Court is “superior court’ as per the PMLA Act in such cases and it had tried both the CBI and ED cases as CBI court does not have jurisdiction over predicate offences.

Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar, representing the CBI, sought two weeks to file an affidavit in reply to the plea based on merits of the case. However, the high court, in view of issues involved in the plea, granted the CBI a week to file its response.