Police register fourth FIR against builder Sanjay Chhabria

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has registered a fresh criminal case against builder Sanjay Chhabria of Radius Group for allegedly cheating Yes Bank to the tune of ₹52

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has registered a fresh criminal case against builder Sanjay Chhabria of Radius Group for allegedly cheating Yes Bank to the tune of ₹52.12 crore.

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This is the fourth FIR against Chhabria, who is currently in judicial custody after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him in connection with a fraud at Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).

According to police, Chhabria’s firm Sumer Radius Realty Private Limited misused a term loan of ₹52.12 crore taken from Yes Bank by diverting the money to other companies.

The banking unit of the EOW has booked Sanjay Chhabria, his wife Ritu Chhabria, and others of Sumer Radius Realty under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code.

Yes Bank in its complaint has said that in 2016 it had sanctioned a term loan of ₹111 crore to Sumer Radius Realty for constructing and developing a real estate project, Avenue 54, in Santacruz.

The company regularly repaid the loan instalments till December 2018 after which it defaulted. In March 2019, its account was declared a non-performing asset, an EOW officer said.

The bank appointed an auditor, BDO India LLP, to carry out an audit of the loan given to the company. In August 2021, the auditor submitted a report that highlighted gross irregularities.

“Yes Bank discovered that of the loan amount of ₹111 crore given to Sumer Radius Realty Private Limited, ₹52.12 crore was not utilised for the purpose for which the loan was availed and the money was diverted to Radius Estate Projects Private Limited and RSC Infra Reality LLP, thus violating the terms and conditions mentioned in the facility letter [loan agreement]. These two companies are linked to Sanjay Chhabria and Ritu Chhabria,” the FIR, a copy of which is with HT, said.

Also, Sumer Radius Realty allegedly mortgaged those properties with DHFL [to avail another loan], which were also mortgaged with Yes Bank as security, the complaint said. “No prior permission from Yes Bank was secured by the accused company. It thus indulged in criminal conspiracy and breach of trust and caused wrongful loss to Yes Bank.”

Last month, the EOW had booked Chhabria and DHFL’s promoter Kapil Wadhwan for allegedly cheating a real estate firm of ₹150 crore. Chhabria’s firm Indo Global Soft Solutions Private Limited in connivance with DHFL allegedly misused ₹150 crore for wrongful gain.

The EOW also had registered two more FIRs last month against Chhabria for allegedly defrauding Yes Bank of nearly ₹122 crore.

The CBI had in April arrested Chhabria in connection with the Yes Bank-DHFL scam. The agency had also conducted raids on premises linked to Radius Group in Mumbai and Pune. CBI sources said Radius Group had taken the loan from DHFL for a residential project in the western suburbs of Mumbai and allegedly had an outstanding loan with interest amounting to around ₹3,000 crore.