ED Cracks Down in ₹415 Crore Yes Bank-DHFL Scam, Seizes Assets of Builders Avinash Bhosale and Sanjay Chhabria
In a significant step in the investigation of the massive Yes Bank-DHFL fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth ₹415 crore belonging to prominent Maharashtra-based builders Avinash Bhosale and Sanjay Chhabria. The move marks another major development in what is being described as one of India’s biggest banking scams.
Both builders were arrested by the ED in June and remain in judicial custody as the agency continues to investigate the alleged money laundering trail linked to the financial fraud involving Yes Bank and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).
According to the ED, the provisional attachment order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Of the total ₹415 crore, assets worth ₹164 crore belong to Bhosale, while ₹251 crore worth of properties are linked to Chhabria.
The agency revealed that Sanjay Chhabria’s attached assets include a prime land parcel in Santacruz, Mumbai, valued at ₹116.5 crore, a 25% equity stake in a Bengaluru land deal worth ₹115 crore, a luxury flat in Mumbai, profits receivable from a hotel near New Delhi airport worth ₹13.67 crore, and three high-end luxury cars collectively worth ₹3.10 crore.
Meanwhile, Avinash Bhosale’s seized properties include a lavish duplex apartment in Mumbai worth ₹102.8 crore, along with multiple land parcels in Pune and Nagpur, which together form a major part of the attached assets.
The case is part of the wider Yes Bank-DHFL fraud investigation being jointly probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Apart from the two builders, former Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan have also been named and arrested in the case.
Investigators allege that Rana Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Wadhawan brothers to provide huge financial support to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for illegal benefits routed to companies linked to his family.
The ED claims that Yes Bank invested ₹3,700 crore in DHFL’s short-term non-convertible debentures and another ₹283 crore in its Masala Bonds. In return, DHFL allegedly paid a ₹600 crore kickback to one of Kapoor’s family-controlled firms, DOIT Urban Ventures.
The investigation further revealed that soon after Yes Bank transferred nearly ₹3,983 crore to DHFL, the housing finance giant sanctioned a ₹2,317 crore loan to Chhabria’s Radius Group for the development of his Mumbai-based project, ‘Avenue 54’. However, officials allege that the funds were diverted instead of being used for the project.
The ED also claims that Chhabria worked in collusion with Bhosale and routed part of the funds through companies controlled by him. In another layer of the alleged fraud, Bhosale is accused of receiving ₹71.82 crore from DHFL under the guise of providing services that were never actually delivered.
Officials believe the transactions were carefully structured to hide the money trail and convert illegal funds into legitimate assets. With this
News source: Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
