The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Amar Nath Dutta in connection with a bogus Bank Guarantee case involving Reliance Power Limited, owned by industrialist Anil Ambani. The court has granted ED four-day custody of Dutta.
This marks the third arrest in the ongoing investigation. The case relates to the creation and use of forged Bank Guarantees, fake endorsements, and SFMS confirmations, which were intended for submission to Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) to manipulate tenders and defraud public funds. SECI suffered losses exceeding Rs 100 crore due to these fraudulent guarantees.
Ashok Pal, former CFO of Reliance Power, who allegedly submitted fake bank guarantees worth over Rs 68 crore to SECI. Pal was arrested on October 11 for money laundering and later resigned from his post.
Partha Sarathi Biswal, MD of Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd.
Investigations indicate that Pal attended meetings in Kolkata with Dutta, Biswal, Shiv Sankar Das, and others to push for new forged endorsements.
The ED’s probe follows a CBI FIR related to financial irregularities involving Yes Bank and several ADA Group entities. A Delhi court recently dismissed a petition challenging Pal’s arrest, upholding ED’s action.
Anil Ambani, chairman of the Reliance ADAG Group, has been summoned again on November 14 for questioning in the money laundering case.
Recently, the ED provisionally attached 132 acres of land worth Rs 4,462.81 crore in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, Navi Mumbai. Earlier, 42 properties worth Rs 3,083 crore were attached in fraud cases involving Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.
The ED continues to investigate the multi-crore financial fraud linked to Reliance Power and ADA Group companies.
