The Bombay High Court has quashed the Enforcement Directorate’s attachment of two land parcels in Pune and Nagpur belonging to developer Avinash Bhosale and entities linked to his ABIL group, finding no basis to continue holding the properties in the Yes Bank-DHFL money laundering case.
The two properties, valued at Rs 14.65 crore and Rs 15.52 crore, were attached by the ED in 2022 during its investigation into alleged proceeds of crime received by Bhosale and entities associated with the ABIL group. The properties comprise a 6,143-square-metre parcel in Pune held under the name Samit Realty and a 20,200-square-foot parcel in Nagpur held in the name of Bhosale’s wife, Gauri Bhosale.
Bhosale had challenged an April 1 order of the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. While the tribunal had partly set aside the ED’s provisional attachments, it had declined to interfere with the attachment of the two properties. Senior advocate Aabad Ponda appeared for Bhosale before the High Court.
The bench questioned the ED’s reasoning for treating payments made by Dewan Housing Finance Corporation to Bhosale under consultancy agreements as proceeds of crime. The court observed that the payments were made before the loan was disbursed on April 12, 2018, and held that they could not be linked to proceeds of crime on that basis.
“We are unable to comprehend, nor has the Special Counsel for the ED been able to explain, how official bank transaction(s) between a bank and a corporate entity, carried out in the usual course of business, could be construed as proceeds of crime and thereby constitute the offence of money laundering,” the bench said, according to the report.
The High Court described the ED’s conclusion as “entirely baseless”. In relation to ABIL, it said the transactions were independent, involved independent corporate entities and were not illegal. The court found no nexus between the transactions and the alleged offence.
The ED had attached several assets linked to Bhosale and the ABIL group in August 2022. These included a duplex flat in Mumbai valued at Rs 102.8 crore, two Pune land parcels valued at Rs 14.65 crore and Rs 29.24 crore, and two Nagpur land parcels valued at Rs 15.52 crore and Rs 1.45 crore.
The agency had alleged that Bhosale and entities including Nibodh Realty LLP and ABIL Dairy received proceeds of crime totalling Rs 164.64 crore. The latest order specifically concerns the two properties whose attachment was challenged before the High Court. The court’s finding removes the continued attachment of those parcels under the proceedings described in the report.
