Yes Bank fraud: CBI searches premises of realtors Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and businessman Avinash Bhosale

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The CBI on Saturday began searches at the premises of some prominent builders, including Ashwini Bhonsale, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, at eight locations in Mumbai and Pune in connection with the DHFL-Yes Bank corruption case, officials said.

The CBI suspects that their companies were used to channel alleged illicit money in the Yes Bank-DHFL loan case, they said.

Balwa and Goenka had earlier been arraigned as accused by the CBI in the 2G spectrum case but were acquitted by a special court in 2018.

The CBI has now knocked on their doors in a 2020 corruption case against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan of DHFL and others.

“The searches are going on at eight locations in Mumbai and Pune. Nothing can be said now about the role of people being searched,” an official said.

The CBI has recently arrested Sanjay Chhabria of Radius Developers in the case.

The agency has alleged that Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with Wadhawan for extending financial assistance to DHFL though Yes Bank in return for substantial undue benefits to himself and his family members through companies held by them, they said.

According to the CBI FIR, the scam started taking shape between April and June 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of DHFL.

In return, Wadhawan allegedly “paid kickback of Rs 600 crore” to Kapoor and his family members in the form of loan to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, they said.

Kapoor’s daughters — Roshini, Radha and Rakhee — are 100 per cent shareholders of DoIT Urban Ventures through Mogran Credits Pvt Ltd, it alleged.

The loan of Rs 600 crore was sanctioned by DHFL to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd on the basis of mortgage of sub-standard properties having very meagre value and by considering its future conversion from agricultural land to residential land, the agency has alleged.

It was further found that DHFL had not redeemed the amount of Rs 3,700 crore invested by Yes Bank in its debentures till date, it said.

In addition, Yes Bank also sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to RKW Developers Pvt Ltd whose Director is Dheeraj Wadhawan and which is a DHFL group company for its Bandra reclamation project, which was transferred by it to DHFL without any investment in the project for which it was sanctioned, they said.

“Rana Kapoor obtained undue pecuniary advantage from DHFL in the matter of investment in the debentures of DHFL by Yes Bank, through the companies held by his wife and daughters,” the FIR alleged.