Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday seized an AgustaWestland helicopter from a property belonging to Avinash Bhosale, one of the accused named in the Rs 34,615 crore rupee loan fraud case. CBI officers said that both the Wadhawans and Bhosale had stakes in the helicopter, and that these stakes were purchased using the proceeds of the crime.
Bhosale was one of the several accused booked in connection with one of the biggest scams in recent times, where Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), its former CMD Kapil Wadhawan, Director Deepak Wadhawan and others were accused of defrauding a consortium of 17 banks. The accused are alleged to have secured loans from the consortium, led by Union Bank of India, and diverting them for personal use by falsifying their books of account.
The CBI has for the last few days conducted searches at the premises of the accused named in the FIR, seizing property worth crores of rupees as well as incriminating documents. Bhosale, who was earlier arrested in the Yes Bank - DHFL case, is currently in judicial custody and was chargesheeted in the previous case by the CBI earlier this week.
According to CBI officials, investigations into the Union Bank of India case revealed that M/s RKW Developers Pvt. Ltd., a company owned by the Wadhawan family, has stakes in M/s Varva Aviation, an Association of Persons which owns an AgustaWestland AW109SP Grand New Helicopter.
“The helicopter was purchased in 2011 and M/s RKW Developers Pvt. Ltd. joined the Association of Persons in 2017, contributing towards its cost price and maintenance. M/s ABIL Infraprojects Ltd., a company owned by Bhosale, also has stake in the helicopter. As our investigations indicate that the funds used for making payment towards the stake in Association of Persons were sourced from loan funds sanctioned by different banks, we have on Saturday seized the helicopter,” a CBI officer said.
The officer added that the helicopter was found to be parked in a hanger at a property in Baner Road, Pune, owned by Bhosale.
