ED Arrests Third Accused in Reliance Power Fake Bank Guarantee Money Laundering Case
Fresh arrest linked to ₹68 crore fraudulent bank guarantee issued on behalf of Reliance Power subsidiary, ED unravels fake guarantee racket
New Delhi, Nov 7: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a third arrest in its ongoing money laundering probe linked to a ₹68 crore fake bank guarantee case involving a subsidiary of Anil Ambani led Reliance Power.
Officials said the agency arrested Amar Nath Dutta on Thursday under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A special court later remanded him to four days of ED custody.
This marks the third arrest in the case, following the earlier detention of former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal and Partha Sarathi Biswal, Managing Director of Odisha based Biswal Tradelink.
The investigation pertains to a bank guarantee worth ₹68.2 crore, allegedly submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power (formerly Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd). The guarantee, issued from the purported FirstRand Bank branch in Manila, was later found to be fake, as the bank has no branch in the Philippines.
According to the ED, Biswal Tradelink operated a racket that provided counterfeit bank guarantees to businesses for a commission of around 8%. The agency also discovered that the company used a fraudulent email domain (s-bi.co.in) resembling that of State Bank of India (sbi.co.in) to make communications appear genuine.
The money laundering case originates from an FIR filed by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in November 2024.
Reliance Power, in a statement, clarified that Anil Ambani has not been on the company’s board for over 3.5 years and is “not connected with the matter in any manner.” The company further stated that it was a victim of fraud and forgery and had lodged a criminal complaint with Delhi Police’s EOW in October 2024.
ED sources said Biswal Tradelink was a paper entity, with its registered office located at a residential property belonging to a relative of Biswal. The investigation into the wider network of fake bank guarantees and related money trails is currently ongoing.
