A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday refused to extend the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of high-profile Pune builder Avinash Bhosale and remanded him to judicial custody till June 22.
Bhosale, the father-in-law of Maharashtra minister and Congress leader Vishwjit Kadam, was arrested by CBI in the Yes Bank fraud case on May 26 from Pune. For the next four days, he stayed as a “guest” at CBI’s guest house in Mumbai and on May 31, the special court remanded him to CBI custody till June 8.
CBI on Wednesday, June 8, produced Bhosale before special judge S U Wadgaonkar and sought extension of his custody remand by five days. The central agency sought extension on the grounds that he was required to be confronted with certain documents and also to collect material evidence.
The special court, however, said no substantial grounds were made out to extend the remand. The court observed that the principal charge sheet in the case was filed in June 2021 and CBI had even conducted raids at Bhosale’s premises long back. Besides, the court said there was nothing in remand application to indicate what progress the agency has made in the last eight days’ custody.
The Yes Bank fraud also involves Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL) and its promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan.
According to CBI, between April and June 2018, the Yes Bank invested ₹3,983 crore in short term non-convertible debentures or “Masala Bonds” of DHFL. The bank subsequently also sanctioned a term loan of ₹750 crore to a DHFL group firm and in return, the then Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor received a kick-back of ₹600 crore from the DHFL in the form of a loan to his family firm, Do It Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited.
CBI said in its earlier remand application that during further investigation they found that in 2017 and 2018, DHFL paid a total amount of ₹68.82 crore to Avinash Bhosale group firms under the guise of providing consultancy services – like architectural, construction planning and financial advice for three construction projects of builder Sanjay Chhabariaa, also arrested in the case, and one project of Sudhakar Shetty.
“But no such services were provided, and the entire payment was obtained by companies of Shri Bhosale without performance of any work/service,” said the CBI’s remand application filed on May 27.
It added that the Radius Group of Chhabariaa also diverted amounts of ₹292.5 crore after receiving loans of ₹2,000 crore from DHFL. “M/s Sumer Radius Realty diverted the said amount to M/s Nibodh Realty LLP and ABIL Dairy, companies of Shri Avinash Nivrutti Bhosale,” it said.