The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a fresh case against industrialist Anil Ambani and Reliance Communications over allegations of cheating Bank of Baroda during the period between 2013 and 2017, officials said on Thursday, marking another escalation in a long-running scrutiny of the now-defunct telecom company’s borrowings and financial conduct. The case, registered by the CBI, alleges that the bank suffered a wrongful loss of more than Rs 2,220 crore due to purported misrepresentation and diversion of funds.
According to officials familiar with the matter, as agencies reported on Thursday, CBI is examining whether loans sanctioned to Reliance Communications were obtained on the basis of misleading disclosures and whether the funds were used for purposes other than those stated at the time of borrowing. The period under investigation coincides with a phase when RCOM was grappling with intense competition in the telecom sector, mounting debt and shrinking revenues, eventually leading to insolvency proceedings and the collapse of its operations.
The fresh CBI case adds to the legal and financial challenges surrounding Anil Ambani, whose group companies once spanned telecom, infrastructure, power and financial services but have since faced a series of debt defaults, insolvency cases and regulatory probes. For lenders, the allegations revive uncomfortable questions about credit appraisal standards during the previous decade, when aggressive lending to capital-intensive corporate groups was often justified by optimistic projections of growth and market dominance.
From an analytical standpoint, the case underscores the continued focus of investigative agencies on legacy corporate loan accounts that turned sour after the credit boom of the early 2010s. Public sector banks, including Bank of Baroda, have over the years acknowledged weaknesses in risk assessment and monitoring during that period, leading to large non-performing assets and subsequent clean-up efforts through insolvency proceedings and recoveries. Investigations such as this one reflect an attempt to establish accountability for decisions that resulted in significant losses to the banking system.
At the same time, legal experts note that registering a case is only the first step in a lengthy process, with the burden on investigators to establish criminal intent, fraudulent misrepresentation or deliberate diversion of funds, rather than business failure alone. For the broader corporate sector, the renewed scrutiny serves as a reminder that past borrowing practices, especially those involving large exposures by state-owned banks, remain subject to retrospective examination even years after the loans were sanctioned and the businesses involved have effectively ceased to operate.