Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to Pune based builder Avinash Bhosale in the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd-Yes Bank in the corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Bhosale, chairman and founder of ABIL Group was arrested by the CBI on May 26, 2022 and at present is in judicial custody. However he has been admitted in a hospital for medical treatments. Justice NJ Jamadar directed Bhosale’s release on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs1 lakh.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by Bhosale challenging the order dated May 16, 2023, passed by the sessions court, Mumbai, thereby extending his judicial custody. According to the CBI, Bhosale received kickbacks from Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, also an accused in the case, in return for diverting funds.
Yes Bank, under Rana Kapoor, had disbursed Rs 3,983 crore to DHFL, which were proceeds of crime of this amount, DHFL sanctioned and disbursed loans aggregating to Rs 2,420 crore to three group concerns of Radius Group, headed by Sanjay Chhabria, also an accused in the case.
Bhosale allegedly received Rs 350 crore kickbacks from Radius group for facilitating loans from DHFL in the form of consultancy services payments, CBI claimed. Bhosale had, however, contended that the allegations are misconceived and that they were all legitimate business transactions.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is also probing the alleged money laundering case against Bhosale. Bhosale has also filed a petition challenging his “illegal” arrest by the central agencies, which is pending hearing.
During the major part of his custody he was admitted in different hospitals and presently he is admitted at St George's Hospital. The agency had in April 2022 conducted searches at eight locations in Mumbai and Pune at the residences and offices of suspects in connection with the Yes Bank-DHFL case. Among the places searched were properties linked to Avinash Bhosale and ABIL.
The central agency had arrested Rane Kapoor and DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, claiming that they had entered into a criminal conspiracy through which financial assistance was extended to DHFL in lieu of substantial undue benefit to Kapoor and his family members.
