The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Gautam Thapar, founder of Avantha Group, for allegedly diverting loans worth ₹466.51 crore from Yes Bank. The CBI has also booked Raghubir Kumar Sharma, Rajendra Kumar Mangal, Tapsi Mahajan, their companies Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OPBL) and officials of Jhabua Power Ltd for allegedly cheating Yes Bank of over ₹466 crore in 2017-19.
The CBI has alleged that the accused have indulged in a criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery for diversion of public money. However, the company became a non-performing asset in 2019 and started defaulting on repayments. It was later revealed in a bank audit that only about ₹15 crore actually went to the power company and the end-use of the balance ₹500 crore could not be ascertained.
The investigation concluded that OBPL entered into these sham transactions in order to divert loan funds to the holding company and other group companies, which were in financial stress and where direct lending by the bank would not have been feasible.
