ED arrests Reliance Power CFO in ₹68 crore fake bank guarantee case
New Delhi, Oct 12, 2025
The ED case involves a ₹68.2 crore bank guarantee submitted to SECI by Reliance NU BESS, a Reliance Power subsidiary, which was later found to be fake
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Pal, chief financial officer of industrialist Anil Ambani’s group company Reliance Power, in a money laundering case connected to an alleged fake bank guarantee of ₹68 crore, news agency PTI reported.
Pal was taken into custody on Friday night under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after being questioned by the agency. He will be produced before a special court on Saturday, where the ED will seek his remand for custodial interrogation, PTI said, citing sources.
Reliance Power said it and its subsidiaries were victims of fraud and forgery, adding that Executive Director and CFO Ashok Kumar Pal has stepped down to assist in the investigation. The company clarified that Anil D. Ambani has not been on its board for over three years and is not connected to the case.
Case linked to fake bank guarantee
The case involves a bank guarantee of ₹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. This guarantee was found to be “fake".
Reliance NU BESS was earlier known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited. The ED identified the accused company allegedly running a racket for issuing fake bank guarantees as Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink.
ED investigation and previous arrests
In August, the ED conducted searches at the premises of the company and its promoters and arrested its Managing Director, Partha Sarathi Biswal.
The money laundering case originates from a November 2024 FIR filed by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The FIR alleged that the company issued fake bank guarantees for a commission of 8 per cent.
At the time, Reliance Group said that Reliance Power had been a “victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy” and disclosed the matter to the stock exchange on November 7, 2024.
A group spokesperson added, “A criminal complaint was lodged by us against the third party (accused company) with Delhi Police’s EOW in October 2024 and the due process of law would follow.”
ED sources said the Bhubaneswar-based company used an email domain — s-bi.co.in — similar to SBI’s official domain sbi.co.in to create the appearance that the communication was from the State Bank of India. This fake domain was used to send “forged” communication to SECI.
The preliminary investigation also found that the company issued “fake” bills for commission and used multiple undisclosed bank accounts to move suspicious transactions worth crores of rupees.
The company is described as a “mere paper entity”, with its registered office at a residential property belonging to a relative of Biswal. During ED searches, no company records were found at the address, officials told PTI.
(With agency inputs)
[The Business Standard]
