Cops file fresh case of cheating, forgery against Rana Kapoor

Mumbai: Police have registered a fresh case of cheating and forgery against former Yes Bank chairman and CEO Rana Kapoor and others in a case of sale of mortgaged assets of a borrower without following the rules.

The complainant, Lakhaminder Singh, director, Sapphire Land Development Ltd has alleged that he mortgaged properties worth Rs 1,000 crore, of which some were sold below market rates after he defaulted on the loan.

The company had availed a loan of Rs 150 crore from Yes Bank between 2016 and 2018. The complainant alleged that the pledged assets were unlawfully transferred to Suraksha ARC (asset reconstruction company) for loan recovery without following legal procedures. The FIR claims the transfer was carried out in collusion with bank officials and other accused. Some of the properties were later sold at undervalued prices, causing a loss of nearly Rs 1,000 crore to the complainant company, the FIR said.

The banking unit of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) registered the FIR with Worli police who have booked Rana Kapoor, Suraksha ARC official Sudhir Walia and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust among other sections. The accused allegedly altered the priority charge (legal right over an asset, ensuring that a specific creditor is paid first from liquidation proceeds before others) over the mortgaged properties and reassigned rights in favour of Suraksha ARC, the FIR said.

Singh also alleged that margin money, (upfront down payment a borrower pays from their own funds) was arranged by the accused and provided to Suraksha ARC to facilitate transfer of assets, the FIR said.

Kapoor has earlier faced multiple investigations by central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate and CBI in connection with alleged financial irregularities and corruption cases linked to the banking sector. He was arrested in 2020 in a money laundering case following the financial crisis at Yes Bank. The CBI had last year filed two separate chargesheets involving allegedly fraudulent transactions between Anil Ambani’s group companies including Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) and Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL), Yes Bank, and firms linked to Rana Kapoor.