MUMBAI: A special PMLA court on Monday granted bail to car designer Dilip Chhabria (71), his sister and others in the Rs 18 crore money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The accused were not arrested in the case.
Last month the ED submitted a chargesheet against the accused. Taking cognisance of the chargesheet on Feb 9, special judge MG Deshpande had issued summons against the accused and directed them to appear before the court on Monday. Represented by advocate Sajal Yadav, Chhabrias sought bail. The others named in the case are Dilip’s sister and accused company Dilip Chhabria Design Pvt Ltd (DCDPL)’s director, Kanchan Chhabria (67), director Nihal Bajaj, resolution professional, Jitendrakumar Yadav, DC Motor Works Pvt Ltd and DC Autosoft Pvt Ltd – an alleged dummy company.
In 2022, ED registered the money laundering case against Dilip and others based on a police FIR. Then Dilip was already behind bars in multiple cheating cases. Later, he was released on bail.
In its chargesheet, the ED had submitted that in 2019, the accused connived with the interim resolution professional appointed following National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) proceedings, continued multiple malpractices, and even staged a fire at the Pune plant of DCDPL with malafide intention to defraud the insurer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Ltd, of Rs 19 crore. The fraud was detected by the insurer and the claim was repudiated.
The chargesheet claimed that the resolution professional, Jitendrakumar Yadav, was allegedly given gold by the Chhabrias. ED also submitted that over Rs 1.1 crore from the Rs 5.3 crore received from actor and TV personality Kapil Sharma for designing a vanity van was utilised by the Chhabrias for repayment of loan on behalf of DCDPL to Axis Bank, BMW Finance, Volkswagen Finance and Yes Bank. Further, Rs 1.1 crore was used by the family members for paying credit card bills, insurance policies, house rent and even house help.
In a statement to ED, Sharma’s authorised representative, Mohammed Hamid, said neither the van was provided nor the amount refunded. Hamid said after Sharma sent a legal notice on April 18, 2019, Dilip and his aides resorted to illegal ways to extract money, including raising arbitrary parking charges for the non-delivered vanity van – Rs 1.2 crore on July 15, 2019 and Rs 1.5 crore on Aug 20, 2019, – and seeking loan in sister concern – DC Motor Works Pvt Ltd – to make payments to vendors.
ED sought confiscation of seized assets amounting to over Rs 1.7 crore. It also referred to the role of Dilip’s son Bonito, ex-director of DCDPL, who died on Nov 22, 2021, due to health issues. ED alleged that Dilip, Kanchan, Bajaj, Bonito, Minica Chhabria (deceased) and other family members connived with BMW India Financial Services officials to obtain loan sanction on DC Avanti car project and financed 41 vehicles to default on the loans. According to ED, DCDPL availed loans of about Rs 40 crore from non-banking financial companies and defaulted on payment. Dilip allegedly registered the same vehicles at RTOs of different states and used each of them multiple times to commit the fraud. He would later sell the designed vehicles.
ED further said Rs 39.8 lakh unaccounted cash was seized from Yadav’s residential premises, which was believed to be proceeds of crime.
The accused were not arrested in the case.
Last month the ED submitted a chargesheet against the accused. Taking cognisance of the chargesheet on Feb 9, special judge MG Deshpande had issued summons against the accused and directed them to appear before the court on Monday. Represented by advocate Sajal Yadav, Chhabrias sought bail. The others named in the case are Dilip’s sister and accused company Dilip Chhabria Design Pvt Ltd (DCDPL)’s director, Kanchan Chhabria (67), director Nihal Bajaj, resolution professional, Jitendrakumar Yadav, DC Motor Works Pvt Ltd and DC Autosoft Pvt Ltd – an alleged dummy company.
In 2022, ED registered the money laundering case against Dilip and others based on a police FIR. Then Dilip was already behind bars in multiple cheating cases. Later, he was released on bail.
In its chargesheet, the ED had submitted that in 2019, the accused connived with the interim resolution professional appointed following National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) proceedings, continued multiple malpractices, and even staged a fire at the Pune plant of DCDPL with malafide intention to defraud the insurer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Ltd, of Rs 19 crore. The fraud was detected by the insurer and the claim was repudiated.
The chargesheet claimed that the resolution professional, Jitendrakumar Yadav, was allegedly given gold by the Chhabrias. ED also submitted that over Rs 1.1 crore from the Rs 5.3 crore received from actor and TV personality Kapil Sharma for designing a vanity van was utilised by the Chhabrias for repayment of loan on behalf of DCDPL to Axis Bank, BMW Finance, Volkswagen Finance and Yes Bank. Further, Rs 1.1 crore was used by the family members for paying credit card bills, insurance policies, house rent and even house help.
In a statement to ED, Sharma’s authorised representative, Mohammed Hamid, said neither the van was provided nor the amount refunded. Hamid said after Sharma sent a legal notice on April 18, 2019, Dilip and his aides resorted to illegal ways to extract money, including raising arbitrary parking charges for the non-delivered vanity van – Rs 1.2 crore on July 15, 2019 and Rs 1.5 crore on Aug 20, 2019, – and seeking loan in sister concern – DC Motor Works Pvt Ltd – to make payments to vendors.
ED sought confiscation of seized assets amounting to over Rs 1.7 crore. It also referred to the role of Dilip’s son Bonito, ex-director of DCDPL, who died on Nov 22, 2021, due to health issues. ED alleged that Dilip, Kanchan, Bajaj, Bonito, Minica Chhabria (deceased) and other family members connived with BMW India Financial Services officials to obtain loan sanction on DC Avanti car project and financed 41 vehicles to default on the loans. According to ED, DCDPL availed loans of about Rs 40 crore from non-banking financial companies and defaulted on payment. Dilip allegedly registered the same vehicles at RTOs of different states and used each of them multiple times to commit the fraud. He would later sell the designed vehicles.
ED further said Rs 39.8 lakh unaccounted cash was seized from Yadav’s residential premises, which was believed to be proceeds of crime.