Builder Sanjay Chhabria remanded to CBI custody up to May 6

Mumbai: A special court in the city on Friday remanded builder Sanjay Chhabria of the Radius Group to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till May 6

Mumbai: A special court in the city on Friday remanded builder Sanjay Chhabria of the Radius Group to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till May 6. The CBI has arrested him on Thursday in connection with the multi-crore Yes Bank scam.

Builder Sanjay Chhabria remanded to CBI custody up to May 6

The agency on Friday produced Chhabria before a special CBI court and sought his custody for 14 days, claiming that Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) had diverted majority of the amounts received as loan advance by the Yes Bank to the firms controlled by Chhabria.

The agency also pointed out that Chhabria had several bank accounts, out of which 182 are still active.

According to the agency, between April and June 2018, the Yes Bank invested ₹3,983 crore in short term non-convertible debentures / Masala Bonds of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).

The bank had subsequently sanctioned a term loan of ₹750 crore to a DHFL group and in return, the then Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor had received a kick-back of ₹600 crore from the DHFL in terms of a loan to his family firm, Doit Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited.

During the course of the investigation, the CBI officials found the role of Chhabria while tracing the end use of the amount of ₹3,983 crore. CBI officials said they found that soon after DHFL received ₹2,700 crore from Yes Bank in the first week of June 2018, DHFL sanctioned loans of ₹1,100 crore and ₹900 crore to Radius Estate Projects Pvt. Ltd. (REPPL) and Sumer Radius Realty Pvt. Ltd. – both controlled by Chhabria.

CBI further claimed that Kapil Wadhawan of DHFL also disbursed loans amounting to ₹416 crore to M/s Radius Estates and Developers Pvt. Ltd. (REDPL) and REPPL without any appraisal or risk assessment of the said Radius Group concerns.

“Pursuant to the sanction of the loan of ₹750.00 crore by Yes Bank Ltd. to M/s Belief Realtors Pvt. Ltd. (BRPL) an amount of ₹632.00 crore was diverted by BRPL to the accounts of DHFL and a major part of the said amount was thereafter transferred by DHFL to M/s Flag Industries India Pvt. Ltd. and other companies owned by Sanjay Rajkumar Chhabria on September 28, 2018,” said the CBI plea seeking Chhabria’s custody remand.

Chhabria’s lawyer Vibhav Krishna opposed the plea saying he had always cooperated with the agency and that CBI had already recorded his statement as a witness in the case and now they have made him an accused.