The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Gautam Thapar, founder of Avantha Group, for allegedly diverting loans worth ₹466 crore taken from YES Bank. The agency also carried out searches across multiple locations including Delhi, Kolkata and Telangana, as part of its investigation.

The case was filed on a complaint by YES Bank, which had extended a loan of ₹515 crore for ten years in 2017. The loan was to be utilised for continuing operations of Avantha Group’s Jhabua Power Limited.

However, the company became a non-performing asset in 2019 and started defaulting on repayments. It was later discovered that only about ₹15 crore actually went to the power company and the end-use of the balance ₹500 crore could not be ascertained, according to an audit done by the bank. It has been alleged that the balance amount has been used to settle loans of the Avantha Group instead of using it for operating the power company.

Second case

This is the second case to be filed by the CBI against Thapar. Earlier, he was named in a real-estate case involving YES Bank founder Rana Kapoor. It was alleged that Thapar offered “illegal gratification in lieu of favours extended in connection with official work” by selling a bungalow in South Delhi to Kapoor in return for loans sanctioned to the Avantha Group.

CG Power case

Thapar has been in trouble over the last two years involving other group entities too. In 2019, CG Power ousted him as chairman after disclosures were made by the company that some employees had carried out unauthorised transactions, which led to a potential understatement of not only the liabilities but even advances to related and unrelated parties of the company and the group.

A forensic audit of CG Power found that various banks, auditors and the company’s board were aware of the transactions, which are now being investigated for fraud and manipulation.

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