Avinash Bhosale Sold ₹1,432 Crore London Hotel While In Custody; ED And CBI Probe Raises Alarms

In a shocking twist in the Yes Bank–DHFL scam, real estate tycoon Avinash Bhosale sold a London hotel worth ₹1,432.5 crore while in judicial custody.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have now launched a deeper probe into the matter.

Flora Development, a UK-based subsidiary of Bhosale’s ABIL Group, carried out the sale in August 2022.

The property, located at 5 Strand, Trafalgar Square, was originally purchased in 2018 for ₹1,000 crore.

Notably, the sale occurred just two months after the CBI arrested Bhosale on 26 May 2022. In June, the ED also arrested him in a separate money laundering case. Despite this, the asset changed hands while he remained in custody.

Initially, the CBI issued a Letter Rogatory to UK officials in 2021, seeking financial and ownership details.

However, it continued to believe the asset was intact. In its 2024 chargesheet, the agency stated it was in the process of attaching the property, unaware it had already been sold.

The sale fetched ₹432.5 crore more than the original value. As a result, ED and CBI officials suspect that the deal helped convert crime proceeds into clean money.

Flora Development reportedly acted as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for laundering funds. The CBI named it ‘Accused No 28’ in the scam.

Bhosale is believed to have controlled the UK firm through his ABIL Group.

ED links deal to broader laundering network

Company documents reveal Bhosale’s son, Amit Bhosale, served as a director of Flora Development. Other listed directors—Jitendra Patel, Nikesh Patel, and Hema Patel—have resigned.

Currently, Amit heads the ABIL Group as Managing Director.

According to the CBI, the London property formed part of a global laundering network. This involved shell companies, fake consultancy agreements, and foreign transactions.

Officials estimate Bhosale made ₹569.22 crore in illegal profits. Of this, ₹300 crore allegedly funded the 2018 property purchase.

Importantly, this case ties into the larger ₹34,615 crore DHFL loan fraud. Key figures include ex–Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor, Sanjay Chhabria of Radius Group, and Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of DHFL.

The ED’s recent chargesheet claims the Wadhawans also disposed of over 40 luxury items while in custody. They reportedly used aides, relatives, and dummy firms—similar to how Bhosale is believed to have managed the London sale.

So far, the ED has seized Bhosale-linked assets worth ₹164 crore. These include a ₹102.8 crore duplex in Mumbai, land in Pune worth ₹43.89 crore, and properties in Nagpur valued at ₹16.97 crore.

Now, investigators are trying to uncover how Bhosale executed such a high-value deal from custody. The sale has raised serious concerns about loopholes in monitoring and asset tracking during judicial detention.

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