Yes Bank fraud: Rana Kapoor gets interim protection from arrest till July 11

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Thursday granted protection from arrest to Yes Bank’s co-founder, former managing director and CEO Rana

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Thursday granted protection from arrest to Yes Bank’s co-founder, former managing director and CEO Rana Kapoor in two cases registered against him in connection with the Yes Bank fraud case.

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In March, CBI had registered two first information reports (FIR) against Kapoor. The first FIR had alleged that Yes Bank had invested ₹3,700 crore in short-term debentures of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) between April and June 2018, in return for which Kapoor was allegedly paid ‘kickbacks’ amounting to ₹600 crore by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan.

DHFL sanctioned a loan to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAB Enterprises in which Kapoor’s wife Bindu is a director and 100% shareholder, alleged CBI. Kapoor’s daughters, Rakhee Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor, and Radha Kapoor, are also 100% shareholders in DoIT Urban Ventures.

Based on the case registered by CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) began its probe into allegations of money laundering by the accused. Kapoor is presently in judicial custody in connection with the ED case

In the second case, CBI alleged that Kapoor and his wife bought a bungalow from Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar at a much lower price than its valuation. In the past, Thapar had mortgaged the bungalow for a corporate loan of ₹600 crore, but he sold it for ₹380 crore to Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd, in which Kapoor’s wife was a director at the time.

The investigative agency had on March 20 obtained a production warrant to arrest Kapoor after he was remanded in judicial custody by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court. The agency, however, had not executed the warrant.

Fearing arrest by CBI, Kapoor had approached the special CBI court for pre-arrest bail last month, following which the court had directed the agency to file a reply on Kapoor’s plea. On Thursday, when the plea came up for hearing, Kapoor’s lawyers Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav sought interim protection from arrest.

The central agency had not submitted its reply on the plea due to which the special court granted protection from arrest to Kapoor till July 11.