Mumbai: In the Rs 4,733 crore DHFL-Yes Bank loan fraud case, the special CBI court has given a clean chit to realtors Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa and stock market expert Sanjay Dangi.
Court Refuses To Accept CBI's Charges
The court refused to accept the CBI’s charges against them and ordered the agency to cancel the lookout circulars (LOCs) issued against them. The court noted that the loan amount of Rs 850 crore, which was taken by DHFL from Yes Bank but diverted to Balwa and Goenka, was paid as a one-time settlement by the latter’s firm to Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Ltd, which took over DHFL after the scam. It also noted that the builders had no intention to cheat DHFL at the outset.
About The Case
As per the CBI’s fourth supplementary chargesheet filed in November 2024, the loan amount of Rs 4,733 crore provided by Yes Bank to DHFL was diverted to “a coterie of Mumbai-based builders”, who failed to settle their dues with the bank. The CBI had raised questions about the loan amount of Rs850 crore sanctioned by DHFL to Neelkamal Realtors belonging to Balwa and Goenka. The agency had claimed that the loan was not repaid and was declared as a non-performing asset (NPA). However, at the time of arguments of taking cognisance of the chargesheet, the prosecution had informed the court that the loan had been repaid by the group in a onetime settlement.
The court noted that the CBI has not made any mention of this one-time settlement with the M/s Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited, which took over DHFL. “There is no whisper in the entire chargesheet about the repayment of the loan... It was for the investigating officer to disclose the exact position of the outstanding loan, if any, as on the date of the filing of the fourth supplementary chargesheet. He has not done it deliberately for the reasons best known to him,” the court said.
When the CBI prosecutor claimed that the ultimate victim is Yes Bank as it has not received its due, the court noted that DHFL was taken over by Piramal Capital and Housing Finance, who approved the one-time settlement. The court noted, “Whether Yes Bank was at loss or not is between Yes Bank and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited and not between Balwa, Goeka, Neelkamal Realtor and Yes Bank.”
The court said that Balwa and Goenka had not taken the loan directly from Yes Bank. The court also noted that to invoke the charges of cheating and conspiracy, there should be evidence that the accused had intention to cheat DHFL. The court added, “It is also important to note that prior to filing of the fourth supplementary chargesheet, the loan account was settled and nothing is outstanding. This goes to show that accused persons were not intending to cheat DHFL. Hence, no case is made out attracting the penal provisions as claimed by the prosecution,” the court said.
Besides, the court also refused to accept the CBI’s case against Dangi and firms Darshan Developers, Mentor Capital, and United Estate Builders Developers. As per the CBI, the loan amount received from Yes Bank was diverted by DHFL to Dangi and the firms. Notably, Dangi’s name was added to the fourth supplementary chargesheet along with Balwa and Goenka. The court noted that “there is no document or evidence… to show that when Yes Bank sanctioned and disbursed the loan of Rs 4,733 crore to DHFL, Dangi was present... or was aware that the loan amount would be diverted by DHFL to his firm Mentor Capital…”
From all the accused named in the fourth supplementary chargesheet, the court took cognisance of CBI’s charges against the absconding accused Farid Sama, Rahul Shah, Ramesh Shah, and Sumer Buildcorp for links with the case.
