Post by : Rameen Ariff

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Pal, the Chief Financial Officer of Reliance Power, a company under industrialist Anil Ambani’s group, in connection with a money laundering case linked to a fake bank guarantee worth ₹68.2 crore. Pal was taken into custody on Friday night under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after questioning by ED officials. He is scheduled to be presented before a special court on Saturday, where the agency will seek his remand for further custodial interrogation.

Case Details and Allegations

The investigation revolves around a bank guarantee submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power. This guarantee was later identified as fake. Reliance NU BESS was previously called Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited. The ED’s probe revealed that an Odisha-based company, Biswal Tradelink, allegedly ran a racket issuing fraudulent bank guarantees.

Earlier in August, ED conducted searches at Biswal Tradelink’s offices and arrested its Managing Director, Partha Sarathi Biswal, as part of the ongoing investigation.

Origin of the Case

The case stems from a November 2024 FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police. The FIR claimed that the company issued fake bank guarantees for a commission of 8 percent. At the time, Reliance Group stated that Reliance Power had fallen victim to fraud, forgery, and cheating, and the matter was disclosed to the stock exchange on November 7, 2024. A group spokesperson added that a criminal complaint was lodged against the third-party accused company with Delhi Police’s EOW in October 2024 and that legal proceedings would follow due process.

Modus Operandi

The preliminary investigation revealed that Biswal Tradelink created an email domain — s-bi.co.in — closely resembling the State Bank of India’s official domain (sbi.co.in) to make their communication appear genuine. Using this forged domain, the company sent fake documents and communication to SECI. Additionally, the company issued false bills for commission and moved large sums of money through multiple undisclosed bank accounts.

ED sources described Biswal Tradelink as a “paper entity” with a registered office at a residential property owned by a relative of its promoter. During ED searches, no records of company operations were found at the stated address.

The arrest of Ashok Pal is a significant development in the ongoing investigation into one of India’s high-profile corporate financial frauds, highlighting continued scrutiny over fraudulent practices in the corporate sector.

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