NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a third arrest in connection with a money laundering investigation involving businessman Anil Ambani’s group company, Reliance Power. The probe pertains to the issuance of an alleged fake bank guarantee worth Rs 68 crore, official sources said on Friday.
A man identified as Amar Nath Dutta was taken into custody on Thursday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A special court subsequently remanded him to four days of ED custody, the sources added.
Earlier, the agency had arrested former Reliance Power Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ashok Kumar Pal and Partha Sarathi Biswal, Managing Director of Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink, in connection with the same case.
The investigation concerns a bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, a listed company, which was later found to be “fake”. The company was formerly known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited.
According to the ED, Biswal Tradelink was allegedly operating a racket providing fake bank guarantees to various business groups.
The Reliance Group has clarified that Anil Ambani “has not been on the Board of Reliance Power Limited for more than three and a half years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner.”
The money laundering case stems from a November 2024 FIR filed by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW). It was alleged that Biswal Tradelink issued fake bank guarantees for a commission of eight per cent.
Investigations revealed that Reliance NU BESS Ltd. had submitted a bank guarantee purportedly issued by FirstRand Bank, allegedly located in Manila, Philippines. However, the said bank does not have a branch in that country, according to the ED.
Reliance Power earlier stated that it was a “victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy” in this case and had made due disclosures to the stock exchanges on 7 November 2024. A company spokesperson added that a criminal complaint had been lodged with the Delhi Police’s EOW in October 2024 against the third-party accused company, and that the “due process” of law would follow.
The ED further claimed that Biswal Tradelink used a deceptive email domain, s-bi.co.in, closely resembling the official State Bank of India domain sbi.co.in, to create a “facade” of authenticity in its communications with SECI.
Investigators also found that Biswal Tradelink was a “mere paper entity”, with its registered office located at a residential property belonging to one of Biswal’s relatives.