{"id":505112,"date":"2026-07-01T21:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/505112\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T21:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:45:11","slug":"qsm-davinder-rahal-in-debt-two-buildings-bankrupt-buyer-and-ties-to-former-jailed-masala-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/505112\/","title":{"rendered":"QSM Davinder Rahal in debt: Two buildings, bankrupt buyer – and ties to former jailed Masala boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young couple is also chasing Rahal for almost $1m after winning a court judgment that he deceived them into buying a rotting, leaky home.<\/p>\n

The final settlement of 609-611 Great South Rd \u2013 which was sold in July 2025 \u2013 has now stalled for almost a year.<\/p>\n

Some creditors claim the Rahal family have continually delayed its sale by lodging one court claim and caveat after another.<\/p>\n

Now they fear Dhadli\u2019s bankruptcy could stall the sale \u2013 and potentially start a resale process.<\/p>\n

Georgina Grant \u2013 the lawyer acting for the deceived young couple \u2013 said the Rahals\u2019 apparent stall tactics had so far been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a party go to such extreme lengths … over my 30 years of practice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For the young couple, Renu Khajuria and Ameet Bhargav, there is urgency to get the building \u2013 owned by Rahal\u2019s trust company \u2013 sold.<\/p>\n

They fear that if it drags on, much of the money raised from the sale will need to go to pay lawyers and liquidators, leaving little remaining to cover what Rahal owes them in damages and costs.<\/p>\n

Two buildings, millions owed<\/p>\n

\"609-611609-611 Great South Rd in Manukau – as pictured in it Ray White real estate listing – was put on sale by receivers in the middle of 2025, it had been owned by a trust controlled by Davinder Rahal, a Queens Service Medal recipient and South Auckland businessman. <\/p>\n

Dhadli\u2019s bid to buy the building is just one strand in a far larger tangle of people, companies and court files.<\/p>\n

At its centre are two Manukau buildings.<\/p>\n

They are the 609-611 Great South Rd property, and another commercial building just down the road at 736 Great South Rd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each building is owned either by Rahal or a trust linked to his family, property records show.<\/p>\n

And each building is being circled by unpaid creditors.<\/p>\n

But there is another twist, according to some of those chasing Rahal for money.<\/p>\n

They claim to have seen fellow South Auckland businessman Rupinder Singh Chahil sitting alongside the Rahals during their High Court hearings.<\/p>\n

Chahil received widespread media coverage over the past decade as the former boss of the Masala Indian restaurant chain.<\/p>\n

He was convicted of exploiting migrant workers, and jailed in 2020 for tax evasion and money laundering.<\/p>\n

He was also jailed in 2009 for two years for kidnapping and ordering the serious assault of two workers who quit his restaurant.<\/p>\n

Public records show a South Auckland home has changed hands between the Rahals and a company associated with the Chahils.<\/p>\n

The Rahals\u2019 family home \u2013 owned by Davinder and wife Jivan Jyoti for 19 years \u2013 passed into ownership of a company associated with the Chahil family in 2024, property records show.<\/p>\n

Then, just under a year later, it passed to the Rahals\u2019 son, Moheet Rahal, according to property records.<\/p>\n

Now Chahil\u2019s nephew, Dhadli, is linked \u2013 as the successful bidder through one of his companies \u2013 to the Rahals\u2019 609-611 Great South Rd.<\/p>\n

Property one: 609-611 Great South Rd<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Herald understands Karam Dhadli (top) made the winning bid to buy 609-611 Great South Rd in Auckland after it was put into a forced sale to recover a debt owed by a trust run by Davinder Rahal (bottom) and his wife.<\/p>\n

On paper, 609-611 Great South Rd is a prized asset to own.<\/p>\n

The 2280sq m building sits on a huge 4137sq m block in one of South Auckland\u2019s busiest commercial strips and has a $7.1m council valuation.<\/p>\n

However, in 2024, a legal bill that Rahal\u2019s company failed to pay triggered a chain of events that forced his trust into liquidation \u2013 with the building being sold off to pay creditors, a liquidator report stated.<\/p>\n

Dhadli\u2019s bid was understood to have been deemed the winner after the building went through a public advertising campaign run by a real estate firm. <\/p>\n

Top of the creditor pile is ASB, which was owed $2.8m on the mortgage, according to liquidator reports.<\/p>\n

Khajuria and Bhargav are unsecured creditors, meaning they will only be paid after ASB, a law firm and the tax office get their cuts.<\/p>\n

The couple have a creditor claim for $962,610 after taking Rahal to court over a leaky Manukau house he sold them in 2020.<\/p>\n

High Court judge Anne Hinton said Rahal authorised superficial, cosmetic repairs to mask water damage to the house, before relisting it as \u201cnewly renovated\u201d and selling to Khajuria and Bhargav.<\/p>\n

Hinton labelled Rahal\u2019s actions a \u201ccover-up\u201d.<\/p>\n

Property two: 736 Great South Rd<\/p>\n

\"SuminderSuminder Sohal made the winning bid to buy 736 Great South Rd after it was put into a forced sale in 2025 to recover a debt that Davinder Rahal (bottom) and his wife owed ASB.<\/p>\n

Down the road a second building is also being sold to recover money Rahal owes.<\/p>\n

Rahal and his wife own the 2400sq m 736 Great South Rd building.<\/p>\n

But in June 2024, ASB demanded $605,431 be repaid on a loan the Rahals had guaranteed \u2014 and, when it wasn\u2019t paid, moved to sell the 736 property to recover the debt.<\/p>\n

This time the man trying to buy it is Rahal\u2019s own tenant, Suminder \u201cShane\u201d Sohal \u2014 who has spent five years in legal battles with the Rahals.<\/p>\n

Sohal has run his Texas Smokehouse restaurant from the building since 2020.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s had to fight Rahal most of that time \u2014 over renovations, a new deck, a lack of building certificates needed for a liquor licence, and other costs.<\/p>\n

He has so far come out ahead in the legal fight: an arbitrator awarded him a six-figure sum<\/a>, and the High Court in 2025 threw out Rahal\u2019s bid to contest the claims in court and ordered them to pay costs.<\/p>\n

Then last November, Sohal saw his chance to turn the tables.<\/p>\n

He won the tender to buy the restaurant building, seeing it as a way to secure his business and be rid of Rahal.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s paid the deposit and is ready to settle, but the sale has also stalled.<\/p>\n

Stalled sales: \u2018Caveat after caveat\u2019<\/p>\n

\"DavinderDavinder Rahal previously had a finance company chase him for $180,000 owed on luxury 2015 Rolls Royce Ghost. <\/p>\n

The Rahals appear to have used a similar playbook to contest \u2013 and consequently hold up \u2013 the sale of both buildings, some creditors claim. <\/p>\n

At 609-611 they have lodged caveat after caveat \u2013 legal documents that halt a sale and require the other side to go to court to remove them.<\/p>\n

That included Rahal\u2019s wife Jivan Jyoti, lodging a caveat, then a court claim seeking to have the building put into her own name. Neither succeeded \u2013 they either lapsed or were struck out, a liquidator report said.<\/p>\n

Then in May this year, their son Moheet lodged a caveat of his own over the building. That fight is still unresolved.<\/p>\n

Jared Booth from Baker Tilly Staples Rodway \u2013 the receivers selling 609\u2013611 \u2013 said his team had worked to remove every caveat the family put over the property.<\/p>\n

He was aware the delays were costing creditors money, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concerns of creditors over the actions of Mr Rahal and parties associated to him, and the negative impact of those actions upon creditors, are acknowledged,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n

At 736, the Rahals have fought in the courts \u2014 with wife Jivan Jyoti this week scoring an interim win.<\/p>\n

After Sohal\u2019s winning bid of $3.225m for the restaurant building was accepted last year, Jivan Jyoti argued the building had been sold too cheaply. <\/p>\n

In a High Court judgment on Tuesday, she was given 15 working days to pay back the debt owed to ASB.<\/p>\n

If she does so it will void the building\u2019s sale to Sohal.<\/p>\n

Justice Johnstone found the law gave her the right to pay off the debt any time before 736 Great South Rd settled.<\/p>\n

Johnstone also said there was \u201ca serious question\u201d about whether the bank had failed in its duty to get the best price during the mortgagee sale marketing campaign that led to Sohal\u2019s offer being accepted. <\/p>\n

Family ties<\/p>\n

\"609-611609-611 Great South Rd in Manukau is located in one of South Auckland’s busiest districts. <\/p>\n

Khajuria and Sohal question Dhadli\u2019s involvement, and whether he is an independent, arm\u2019s-length buyer.<\/p>\n

They point to the Rahal and Chahil family\u2019s apparent links via the Rahal family home.<\/p>\n

They also point to apparent business links between the Chahil and Dhadli families.<\/p>\n

Companies Office records show Dhadli registered two of his businesses at buildings Chahil companies have also used. <\/p>\n

Dhadli\u2019s father, Supinder Singh, was director of a company which previously owned a Chahil family home. <\/p>\n

Singh has also been a director of multiple companies named in a 2017 judgment related to the Masala restaurant scandal.<\/p>\n

\u2018Where does the money come from?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"KaramKaram Dhadli’s home at 378 Redoubt Rd in Totara Vale is currently up for mortgagee sale. <\/p>\n

Dhadli was himself in financial trouble when bidding in 2025 to buy 609-611 Great South Rd.<\/p>\n

His One Group company had already collapsed owing an alleged $1.3m by 2024, and a creditor had been trying to bankrupt him in the High Court.<\/p>\n

He was ultimately declared bankrupt in May this year, with his T\u014dtara Park home now being sold out from under him.<\/p>\n

The Official Assignee \u2013 the Government agency overseeing bankruptcies \u2013 confirmed it is watching to see Dhadli does not continue acting as director of his businesses.<\/p>\n

For Grant, acting for Khajuria and Bhargav, the caveats, court claims and legal twists keep adding up to one thing \u2013 delays.<\/p>\n

She wants 609-611 Great South Rd sold as soon as possible so her clients can be repaid the court damages owed to them for the leaky house case.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the delays do is hold it up \u2013 and chew up the money and prevent [Khajuria and Bhargav] from fixing their home and moving on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Herald sought comment from Dhadli, Rahal, Chahil and Singh but all declined to comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young couple is also chasing Rahal for almost $1m after winning a court judgment that he deceived…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6127,95,6124,4282,12683,3239,20491,17397,219494,5399,251975,2740,10053,78,14641,251974,11556,5836,251973,62540,111,139,69,219493,219495,213,45666,61,1237],"class_list":["post-505112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-already","tag-and","tag-bankrupt","tag-boss","tag-buildings","tag-buyer","tag-chased","tag-creditors","tag-davinder","tag-debt","tag-dhadli","tag-former","tag-house","tag-in","tag-jailed","tag-karam","tag-losing","tag-lost","tag-masala","tag-mercedes","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-qsm","tag-rahal","tag-sports","tag-ties","tag-to","tag-two"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}