Pune realtor diverted Rs 300 cr of DHFL money for buying property in London: CBI

MUMBAI: Pune-based builder Avinash Bhosale spent Rs 300 crore of the over Rs 550 crore received from DHFL to buy a property in London, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in a charge-sheet.

The central agency has arrested Bhosale in an alleged scam involving Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) and Yes Bank. The charge sheet was filed before a special CBI court here earlier this week.

The supplementary charge sheet, the third in the case, said that co-accused Sanjay Chhabariaa diverted Rs 317.40 crore -- part of the funds which DHFL had received as loans from Yes Bank -- to Bhosale and his companies. Also, as per the CBI, Rs 43 crore were disbursed to ABIL Infrastructure and Rs 140 crore to Metropolis Hotels. DHFL's Kapil Wadhawan had sanctioned this disbursement shortly after Yes Bank made investment in DHFL in AprilMay 2018, it said.

Both ABIL Infrastructure and Metropolis Hotels are owned or controlled by Bhosale.

Further, three other entities of Bhosale's received Rs 68.80 crore as consultancy fee for multiple projects financed by Kapil Wadhawan, the charge sheet said. In all, Bhosale's companies received Rs 569.22 crore from DHFL which in turn had received the funds from Yes Bank, it said.

Bhosale used Rs 300 crore of this money to acquire a property at 5 Strand London, valued at GBP 92.5 million, through Flora Developments Ltd floated in the UK, the charge sheet said.

As per the CBI, Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with former DHFL Chairman and Managing Director Kapil Wadhawan

for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank. In return, Kapoor and his family were to get substantial undue benefits. According to the CBI, the scam started taking shape between April to June, 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short term debentures of scam-hit DHFL.

In return, Wadhawan allegedly paid "kickback of Rs 600 crore" to Kapoor and his family members in the form of loans to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, controlled by Kapoor's daughters Roshini, Radha and Rakhee.