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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
Vijay V Singh and Rebecca Samervel | TNN

Mumbai: Company Avinash Bhosale claimed he sold for Rs 50 crore still with him, alleges ED

MUMBAI: Pune businessman Avinash Bhosale had claimed that he sold one of his companies for Rs 50 crore to Mumbai-based builder Sanjay Chhabria around three years ago, but the company is still with Bhosale and he obtained money illegally, alleged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking Bhosale's further custody in a money laundering case.

The court on Tuesday extended Bhosale's ED custody by six more days.

Bhosale also received Rs 431 crore in his company Nibodh Realty from Chhabria, and connived with him for money laundering, the ED has alleged. Around the same period, DHFL, a housing finance company, also diverted Rs 66 crore to Bhosale illegally as consultancy charges for providing services to various loans given for different projects. But Bhosale never provided any such services, alleged ED. It is alleged that Bhosale received kickback for helping DHFL obtain Rs 3,983 crore loan from Yes Bank, which afterward turned into NPA.

The court remand order said, "Out of this Rs 431 crore approx, a considerable amount to the tune of Rs 267 crore had been obtained by Bhosale from Chhabria during the period April 2018 onwards. This was the same period when Chhabria had received funds from DHFL in the name of development of "Avenue 54" project. The project is still incomplete, and the loan accounts have turned into NPA". ED alleged that Bhosale beneficially owns ABIL Group consisting of 84 entities, and they needed his further custody to trace all the money he received from DHFL and Chhabria.

The ED said Bhosale got Rs 50 crore in one of his companies, Abil Dairy LLP, from Chhabria. Bhosale claimed he received the money against the sale of Abil Dairy, but the ED submitted that "Abil Dairy LLP has not yet been sold or transferred to Chhabria and it is still with Bhosale".

Yes Bank, then headed by Rana Kapoor, had invested Rs 3,983 crore in DHFL. In lieu of that, DHFL's erstwhile promoter Kapil Wadhawan paid Rs 600 crore kickback to Kapoor in the guise of loan to DOIT Urban Venture, controlled by Kapoor's three daughters. Yes Bank also sanctioned Rs 750 crore to a company of Dheeraj Wadhawan, Kapil's brother, RKW Developers, for a Bandra Reclamation redevelopment project. But the Wadhawan brothers siphoned the money.

ED alleged that "immediately after Yes bank diverted a part of the Rs 2,700 crore fund to DHFL, in the first week of June 2018, DHFL diverted Rs 66 crore to Bhosale."

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