ED takes custody of ABIL group's Avinash Bhosale in Yes Bank-DHFL money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has taken the custody of ABIL group chairman Avinash Bhosle in connection with an alleged money laundering case, an official said on Tuesday.

The Pune-based businessman had been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with an alleged corruption case involving Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and Kapil Wadhawan of the DHFL. He was subsequently lodged at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai.

On Monday evening, officials of the ED took Bhosale's custody from the prison, the official said. He will be produced before a court later in the day, sources said.

The CBI probe in the Yes Bank-DHFL bank fraud case had brought under the scanner the role of Pune-based auto driver-turned-real estate baron Avinash Bhosale, who as a middleman allegedly received kickbacks of over Rs 360 crore from another real estate developer for facilitating loans from the DHFL, which turned into non-performing assets, officials had said earlier.

The CBI had stumbled upon two payments of over Rs 68.8 crore and Rs 292 crore to Bhosale's companies made by Radius Developers, whose owner Sanjay Chhabaria was recently arrested in the case, they had said.

The agency said that the custody of Bhosale was needed to unearth the deep-rooted conspiracy and to know the end use of the diverted public funds. Before arresting Bhosale, the CBI had conducted searches at the premises of noted builders of Maharashtra on April 30 as a part of an investigation into the case. Premises linked to Bhosale were also searched during the operation.

Yes Bank-DHFL fraud case

According to CBI, former promoter and CEO of Yes Bank, Rana Kapoor was involved in a criminal conspiracy with DHFL promoter & director Kapil Wadhawan for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for substantial kickbacks to himself and his family members for companies held by them.

As per the FIR filed by CBI, the scam took place between April and June 2018, when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of scam-hit DHFL. In return, Wadhawan allegedly "paid kickbacks of Rs 600 crore" to Kapoor and his family members in the form of loans.

(With inputs from PTI)