Loan fraud: Court rejects bail plea of builder Avinash Bhosale
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Bhosale on May 22, 2022, and later the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also arrested him in connection with the loan fraud at Yes Bank involving Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited.
Mumbai: A special court refused to grant default bail to high-profile Pune builder and hotelier Avinash Bhosale in the Yes Bank-DHFL loan fraud case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Bhosale on May 22, 2022, and later the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also arrested him in connection with the loan fraud at Yes Bank involving Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited.
The defence lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, had approached the special PMLA court for bail and argued that the CBI had not yet submitted the final report in the case within a statutory period and therefore, Bhosale was entitled to default bail.
The public prosecutor for CBI objected to Bhosale’s plea and added that after he was arrested, the CBI had filed a supplementary chargesheet in the case, which has named him as an accused. It also added that the agencies are given powers to conduct a further investigation even after filing a chargesheet.
The court, after hearing both sides, noted that the CBI first filed the chargesheet on June 25, 2020, and later two supplementary chargesheets were filed wherein Bhosale has been named. The court further noted that the agency has pleaded that further investigation regarding funds diverted by accused Sanjay Chhabria of Radius Group is in progress.
“It can’t be construed that further investigation is still going on against the present accused. Moreover, the reply of CBI is very specific and shows that there is no further investigation going on against the present accused,” the special court observed.
“The provision also makes it clear that further investigation is permissible, however, reinvestigation is prohibited. The law does not mandate taking prior permission from the magistrate for further investigation. Only a formal intimation is required to be given,” said the court. “Carrying out a further investigation even after filing of the chargesheet is a statutory right of the police.”
Bhosale had moved the plea before the special court after the supreme court verdict which held that the accused are entitled to get bail in case of incomplete investigation within stipulated time. A larger bench in the Supreme Court is reviewing the order.
As per CBI’s chargesheet, Chhabria diverted an amount of ₹317.40 crore from the loans availed by Radius Group concerns from DHFL to the account of Avinash Bhosale group of companies. This amount was towards the repayment/redemption of ICDs (inter-corporate deposits) placed by the said companies of Bhosale to Radius Group concerns for various projects.
The investigation by CBI also revealed that companies of Bhosale received an amount of ₹68.82 crores from DHFL in 2018 in the garb of consultancy services provided for the three projects, namely Avenue 54 and One Mahalaxmi – both being developed by Chhabria – and SRA Worli project, developed by Sudhakar Shetty of Sahana group.