CBI books Yes Bank founder, wife & others in fresh case

The case relates to the Amrita Shergill bungalow deal and alleged bribe for relaxation in realisation of loans worth over Rs 1,500 crore to Thapar's companies, according to officials.

New Delhi: The CBI has booked Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and his wife Bindu for allegedly obtaining Rs 307 crore bribe through the purchase of a bungalow in a tony Delhi area from a realty firm at half the market price and facilitating around Rs 1,900 crore bank loans to it in return, officials said Friday.

The agency suspects that the discounted transaction for the 1.2 acre-bungalow on Amrita Shergill Marg was a gratification to Kapoor through the company Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd in return for non-realisation of over Rs 1,900 crore in loans from Yes Bank to Gautam Thapar-promoted Avantha Realty and group companies, they said.

Kapoor's wife Bindu is one of the two directors of Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd.

The CBI booked Thapar, Rana Kapoor and his wife Bindu in the fresh case for alleged criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, officials said.

The agency carried out searches at the residence and office of Kapoor and his wife Bindu in Mumbai, and the company Bliss Abode, offices of Avantha Realty and Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited in Delhi and NCR, they said.

It is alleged that Kapoor bought the bungalow at Rs 378 crore, paying through Bliss Abode, they said, adding the property was immediately mortgaged to Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited for a loan of Rs 685 crore which was Rs 307 less than the market price.

The transaction shows that Bliss Abode paid much less than the market value to Avantha group for alleged relaxation in other existing loans to the group companies and for advancing new and additional loans.

The agency has alleged the property was under mortgage with ICICI Bank, which was released in favour of Yes Bank through a loan of Rs 400 crore given to Avantha Realty, they said.

The bank had sanctioned this loan in 2016 as lease rental, discounting for 10 years against a farce lease rental agreement entered between Avantha Realty and its another group company BILT Graphics Paper Pvt Ltd, they said.

The agreement between Avantha Realty and BILT was farcical as the rental value was increased from Rs one crore annually to Rs 65 crore without any basis, officials said.

No rent was however received from BILT to Avantha Realty, they said.

In June 2017, Rana Kapoor persuaded Avantha Realty to sell this property to Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd against the favour extended to other previous advances of Avantha group of companies and extending another Rs 1165 crore loans to the group companies even when existing loans were under stress, they said.

In a statement, Indiabulls Housing Finance said no raid of CBI has happened on Indiabulls group or any of its offices.

"The CBI raids have happened on Yes Bank/Rana Kapoor who have their offices in Indianbulls Finance Centre in the capacity of a tenant," Amit Jain, company secretary said.

When asked, the CBI officials maintained that searches took place at the Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd office in New Delhi.

(PTI Report)