CBI raids premises of 3 real estate developers in Yes Bank fraud case

Sanjay Chhabria, the managing director of the Radius Group, was arrested on Thursday evening and remanded to CBI custody till May 6.

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted raids at eight locations in Mumbai and Pune linked to developer Shahid Balwa, his partner Vinod Goenka and Pune-based developer Avinash Bhosle in connection with the Yes Bank-Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) fraud.

The raids are being carried out after the arrest of developer Sanjay Chhabria (Abhijit Bhatlekar/ Mint)

“The raids are being carried out after the arrest of developer Sanjay Chhabria who is currently in CBI custody. During the investigation, the agency got some evidence in Chhabria’s interrogation and accordingly searches are being conducted at Balwa, Goenka and Bholse’s premises in Mumbai and Pune,” CBI sources said.

Chhabria, the managing director of the Radius Group, was arrested on Thursday evening and remanded to CBI custody till May 6.

The agency claimed that DHFL had diverted the majority of the amount received as a loan from the Yes Bank to the firms controlled by Chhabria. According to the agency, Chhabria had several bank accounts, of which 182 are still active.

According to CBI, between April and June 2018, Yes Bank invested ₹3,983 crore in short term non-convertible debentures/Masala Bonds of 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 allegedly received kickbacks to the tune of ₹600 crore from the DHFL in terms of a loan to his family firm, DoIt Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited (DUVPL).

Kapoor’s daughters -- Roshini, Radha and Rakhee -- are 100% shareholders of DoIT Urban Ventures through Mogran Credits Pvt Ltd, it alleged.

Chhabria’s role came to the fore 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.