New Delhi: The ED took Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor into custody just before he could succeed in his plan to sell his three Delhi-based properties worth Rs 1,000 crore, a prelude to him shifting his base to a foreign country.
The three properties – located at 40, Amrita Shergill Marg; 18 Kautilya Marg, Chanakya Puri; and in the Diplomatic Enclave on Sardar Patel Marg -- are not directly linked to Kapoor but officials said that he had asked some top property dealers to rustle up buyers to sell these assets to.
It is learnt that all the properties are linked to Kapoor's wife Bindu, who is also under the scanner with ED probing suspicious transactions of around Rs 4,300 crore.
Bindu bought a luxurious bungalow at 40, Amrita Shergill Marg -- a prime location in Lutyens' Delhi -- in the name of her company Bliss Abode Ltd, while the other two properties belong to Bliss Villa (Delhi) Private Ltd.
Known for a flamboyant lifestyle and penchant for publicity, Kapoor, sources said, wanted to shift his base to the US, the UK or France by selling properties in Delhi and Mumbai soon after he got a tip-off about ED's investigation against him.
It is suspected that he did not want to leave any asset in India before shifting base.
The source said that the property at Amrita Shergill Marg was bought from Avantha Realty, Gautam Thapar's company which had borrowed money from Yes Bank.
According to sources, Kapoor's wife had bought this property in the name of her company Bliss Abode Ltd on account of a loan default by Avantha Realty.
Yes Bank's exposure to Avantha Realty was Rs 500 crore. Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd had bought this property by raising Rs 380 crore from a Mumbai-based non-banking financial company. The address of Bliss Abode is also the same as the property bought.
Yes Bank allegedly, instead of going for a procedure under the RBI's suggested guidelines to recover the loan, sold the property for a bare minimum price of Rs 380 crore to Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd.
Amrita Shergill Marg is one of the most prime areas of Delhi and sources said that the property was priced at around Rs 450 crore.
The Chanakya Puri property is in the name of Bliss Villa (Delhi) Pvt Ltd which was incorporated on September 9, 1971. It is classified as a non-government company and is registered at the Registrar of Companies, Delhi. Its authorised share capital is Rs 20,000,000 and its paid up capital is Rs. 18,374,800.
One of the directors of Bliss Villa (Delhi) Private Limited is Bindu Kapoor. The third property in Diplomatic Enclave on Sardar Patel Marg is also a prime property linked to Rana but more information about the property could not be gathered.
The ED has not only initiated its probe into these three Delhi-based assets but also another property in Mumbai which was bought by Rana's family on Altamount Road in Mumbai in 2018 for Rs 128 crore. Jointly owned by Citibank and GlaxoSmithKline, the property is next to Mukesh Ambani's 27-storey Antilla.
