Mumbai: In a sensational twist to the ongoing Yes Bank–DHFL loan fraud investigation, it learnt that real estate tycoon Avinash Bhosale, sold a hotel in London for Rs 1,432 crore, even while he was in custody. Documents accessed by The Free Press Journal reveal that a premium hotel and commercial asset located at 5 Strand, Trafalgar Square in Central London, originally acquired in 2018 for around Rs 1,000 crore by Flora Development Ltd, a UK- based subsidiary firm of Avinash Bhosale Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd was sold in August 2022 for £150 million (approx. Rs 1,432.5 crore, inclusive of VAT) to London Hotel Holding Ltd.
The deal was executed barely two months after Avinash Bhosale’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on May 26, 2022, in connection with the alleged DHFL–Yes Bank loan fraud. He was subsequently taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June 2022 in a parallel money laundering case. Shockingly, the sale took place while Bhosale was already lodged in judicial custody.
Representative Image and 5 Strand, Trafalgar Square in Central London |
The deal has raised a number of questions, as the sale took place nearly a year after the CBI had issued a Letter Rogatory (LR) to UK authorities in 2021, seeking financial and ownership details of the firm involved in the 2018 purchase of a luxury hotel and commercial asset. In a supplementary chargesheet filed in 2024, the CBI confirmed that the process of attaching the London-based property is currently underway, unaware that the asset had already been sold in 2022 by a subsidiary of the ABIL Group.
The London asset was originally acquired in 2018 through Flora Development Ltd, a UK-based firm allegedly controlled by Avinash Bhosale and functioning as a subsidiary of the ABIL Group. The property was positioned as a future 200-room world-class luxury hotel. However, according to a CBI chargesheet filed in 2021, central agencies allege that the funds used for the purchase were part of the proceeds of crime (PoC) in the Yes Bank–DHFL loan fraud case.
The deal has raised serious red flags. How was a high-value international transaction executed while Avinash Bhosale remained behind bars? More significantly, the sale is estimated to have generated a profit of Rs 432.5 crore over and above the property's value intensifying suspicions in ED and CBI circles that the proceeds of crime were laundered under the guise of a legitimate asset sale. The central question remains: where did the total Rs 1,432.5 crore comprising both the asset’s value and the suspected illicit profit actually go? Were the funds repatriated to India, layered through offshore shell companies, or stashed away in undisclosed tax havens? The transaction has also cast a shadow over the role of enforcement agencies, with serious concerns emerging over how the ED and CBI remained unaware of both the sale and the diversion of suspected PoC, despite an active investigation.
ABIL did not respond to an email sent by FPJ.
According to the CBI chargesheet, a Central London property comprising a luxury hotel and commercial space was acquired in 2018 through Flora Development Ltd, a UK-based firm incorporated in 2017 and allegedly controlled by Avinash Bhosale. Named as Accused No. 28, the company functioning as a subsidiary of the ABIL Group was reportedly used as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to channel illicit funds into UK real estate.
The chargesheet further alleges that ABIL's UK-based entity was a key hub in a complex international money laundering network created to funnel funds obtained through the DHFL–Yes Bank fraud. This network involved fake consultancy contracts, shell companies, and offshore transactions.
Bhosale is one of the main accused in the multi-crore Yes Bank–DHFL fraud case, alongside former Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor, Radius Group promoter Sanjay Chhabria, and former DHFL chairman Kapil Wadhawan. The CBI estimates that Bhosale accrued wrongful gains amounting to Rs 569.22 crore as part of the larger conspiracy. Of this, Rs 300 crore was reportedly diverted to acquire the London property in the name of Flora Development Ltd. The total purchase value of the asset was pegged at around Rs 1,000 crore. According to the chargesheet, the remaining Rs 700 crore was arranged as a loan from Yes Bank then headed by Rana Kapoor and directly remitted to the UK-based bank account of Flora Development Ltd in 2018 to facilitate the acquisition.
Company records show that Avinash Bhosale’s son, Amit Bhosale, served as a director of Flora Development Ltd, the UK-based firm through which the Central London property was acquired. Other directors of the company included Jitendra Patel, Nikesh Patel, and Hema Patel, all of whom have since resigned. Amit Bhosale currently holds the position of Managing Director at the ABIL Group
This case is intricately linked to the larger Rs 34,615 crore DHFL loan fraud, in which Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan are primary accused. Both brothers are also implicated in the Yes Bank fraud case. The ED, in its recent chargesheet before the special PMLA court, alleged that even while in custody, the Wadhawans orchestrated the sale and disappearance of over 40 high-value artworks, antiques, and luxury assets. The ED claims they used a trusted network of family, aides, and proxy companies to execute the transactions.
This modus operandi mirrors the alleged London property sale involving Bhosale, further strengthening suspicions that financial crimes were carried out from within judicial custody.
The ED has provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 164 crore linked to Avinash Bhosale and the ABIL Group in connection with the DHFL–Yes Bank scam. The seized properties include a Rs 102.8 crore Mumbai duplex, two Pune land parcels total valued at Rs 43.89 crore, and two Nagpur properties total worth Rs16.97 crore believed to be proceeds(PoC) of crime from alleged fund diversion and money laundering.
