The Bombay High Court has quashed the Enforcement Directorate’s attachment of properties worth Rs25 crore linked to Pune-based businessman Avinash Bhosale and entities associated with his family, holding that the agency had not established a link between the transactions and alleged proceeds of crime.
A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata passed the order on Wednesday while allowing appeals filed by Bhosale, his wife Gauri and Samit Realty Pvt Ltd. The bench also dismissed the Enforcement Directorate’s appeal against an order of the appellate tribunal.
The attached assets included a 6,143.71-square-metre plot in Pune, valued at Rs14.65 crore and held in the names of Bhosale and Gauri, as well as a 20,200-square-metre plot in Nagpur. The properties had been attached as part of the agency’s investigation into an alleged Rs3,983-crore financial fraud involving transactions between Yes Bank and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).
According to the report, the ED had alleged that Rs164.64 crore was transferred to Bhosale and entities linked to him. The agency connected the transfers to an investment advisory agreement and a transaction involving the sale of a dairy business.
The high court rejected the ED’s arguments while setting aside the attachment. It observed that banking transactions carried out in the ordinary course of business could not automatically be treated as proceeds of crime unless the necessary connection with the alleged offence was established.
The ruling has immediate implications for the status of the attached land assets in Pune and Nagpur. Property attachment under financial-crime investigations can restrict an owner’s ability to deal with land while proceedings continue. By quashing the attachment, the court removed the specific enforcement action against the properties identified in the case, according to the report.
The order also underscores the legal requirement for investigating agencies to demonstrate a direct link between a property or transaction and the alleged offence before treating the asset as proceeds of crime. The court’s observation concerned the transactions and properties covered by the appeals before it.
The Bombay High Court’s decision came on the same day the matter was reported, and the court’s order forms the basis for the relief granted to Bhosale, his wife and Samit Realty Pvt Ltd.
