The Enforcement Directorate raided various locations associated with DC Motors owner Dilip Chhabria. On Thursday, the authorities searched six locations associated with the automobile designer in Mumbai and Pune.
According to sources, a money laundering case has been filed against Chhabria based on cases filed by Mumbai Police's Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) and Economic Offence Wing (EOW).
Chhabria was arrested in December 2020 by the Mumbai Police CIU unit after his company Dilip Chhabria (DC) Designs was discovered to have reportedly obtained loans from various non-banking financial firms (NBFC) by posing as clients intending to purchase some DC sports vehicles. The corporation had fallen behind on repayment.
According to sources, Chhabria has three charges filed against him, two by the Crime Intelligence Unit and one by the Economic Offence Wing of the Mumbai Police.
Another complaint was brought against Chhabria by comedian Kapil Sharma for duping him out of crores by offering to design his vanity van.
Officials claimed Dilip Chhabria and his associates were running a multi-crore swindle under the guise of Avanti automobile and the financing they obtained for the cars was from NBFCs.
Chhabria alleged last year that his business partner framed him in the case with the aid of Sachin Vaze, who was in head of CIU at the time. Vaze was detained in connection with the Antilla bomb threat investigation last year.
Dilip Chhabria Design was founded in 1993 with the primary purpose of providing design and prototyping services to the Indian car industry as well as bespoke solutions to individual consumers. He has been a trailblazer in the world of vehicle design. His DC Avanti, widely regarded as India's first sports vehicle, was introduced in 2016.