MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth over ₹400 crore linked to builders, Sanjay Chhabria and Avinash Bhosale in connection with the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL)-Yes Bank fraud case. The fresh attachment orders take the total value of assets seized in this case to ₹1,827 crore, the federal probe agency said on Wednesday.
Private developer Sanjay Chhabria of the Radius Group, and Avinash Bhosale, the promoter of the Avinash Bhosale Infrastructure Ltd (ABIL) and father-in-law of former Congress minister Vishwajit Kadam, were arrested by ED in the case on June 7 and June 28, respectively. Both are in judicial custody.
ED officials said Sanjay Chhabria’s attached assets included a land parcel in Santacruz worth ₹116.5 crore, his 25% equity share in his company, a land parcel in Bengaluru worth ₹115 crore, a Santacruz flat worth ₹3 crore and ₹13.67 crore in profits receivable from his hotel near Delhi airport.
Bhonsale’s duplex flat in Mumbai worth ₹102.8 crore, two land parcels in Pune worth ₹44 crore and two plots in Nagpur worth ₹17 crore have also been attached.
ED started investigating the money laundering case against former Yes Bank chief executive Rana Kapoor and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan, on the basis of an FIR registered by CBI, alleging that Rana Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with Kapil Wadhawan and others to extend financial assistance to DHFL by Yes Bank Ltd for a ₹600 crore bribe given in the garb of a loan to one of Rana Kapoor’s beneficially owned companies, DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt. Ltd.
According to an ED statement, once Yes Bank transferred ₹3,983 crore to DHFL as investments in its debentures and masala bonds, DHFL extended loans to Sanjay Chhabria’s Radius Group on the pretext of development of his project “Avenue 54” at Santacruz, Mumbai. ED said Sanjay Chhabria, however, also diverted the money without using it for the declared purpose.
The ED statement said Sanjay Chhabria diverted the funds to various companies linked to Avinash Bhosale. Already, Avinash Bhosale in collusion with DHFL’s Kapil Wadhawan received approximately ₹71.82 crore from DHFL in the garb of providing certain services to DHFL and other entities, ED has alleged. The claimed services were never provided.
To be sure, Sanjay Chhabria also faced four cases registered by Mumbai’s economic offences wing for cheating. The last of the four cases was registered last month on a complaint by Yes Bank, which accused him of cheating the bank of ₹52 crore.