5 Days After Arrest, Bhosale Sent To CBI Custody Till June 8 In Graft Case

Nearly a week after his arrest, a special CBI court here on Tuesday remanded Avinash Bhosale, chairman of Pune-based real estate group ABIL, to Central Bureau of Investigation custody till June 8 in an alleged corruption case involving Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and Kapil Wadhawan, promoter of scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).

Bhosale was arrested on Thursday (May 26) by the central probe agency, which suspects illicit funds were routed through several real estate firms based in Maharashtra. The CBI produced him before special judge DP Singhade the next day (May 27) and sought his custody for ten days. However, the court couldn't pass an order on probe agency's remand plea on the same day as the hearing could not be completed within stipulated working hours. A decision on the remand plea could also not be taken as the CBI sought time from the court to file a written reply to objections raised by the Pune-based realtor over his arrest which he termed as illegal.

The court had given the probe agency time till May 30 for file a reply and directed that the accused be kept at the CBI guest house at Bandra-Kurla Complex, a business district in suburban Mumbai, until then.

On Monday, too, the court could pass an order on Bhosale's remand. The court, after hearing arguments put forth by the defence and the prosecution, had posted the matter for order on Tuesday. Accordingly, the court remanded the 61-year-old businessman to the CBI custody till June 8. During the hearing, the CBI, represented by additional solicitor general Anil Singh and special public prosecutor Jitendra Sharma, had told the court investigation in the case was still continuing and a number of documents were to be collected from various authorities. Several witnesses from different strata of the society were yet to be examined. Bhosale's custody was required for confronting him with the incriminating evidence emerging against him and also bringing him face to face with witnesses/suspects in the case, the agency said. His custody was required to unearth the deep-rooted conspiracy related to the case, to ascertain the end use of public funds allegedly diverted by the businessman and gather details about other issues relevant to the matter, the probe agency added. On the other hand, defence lawyers Vijay Agarwal, Rahul Agarwal and Dhawal Mehta appearing for Bhosale, filed written objections, opposing the remand plea, under the provision of the criminal manual issued by the Bombay High Court. Vijay Agarwal raised a series of objections and questioned the legality of the arrest of his client.

The central agency has alleged that Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with Wadhawan for extending financial assistance to scam-hit DHFL through Yes Bank in return for substantial undue benefits to himself and his family members through companies held by them. 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. DoIT Urban Ventures is held by daughters of Kapoor -- Roshini, Radha and Rakhee -- who are 100 per cent share holders of the company through Mogran Credits Pvt Ltd, the CBI has claimed.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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