ED summons top executives of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group: Report

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday issued summons to several top executives of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation, a day before Ambani himself is slated to appear before the agency.

According to ET Now, which cited Times Now sources familiar with the development, senior group executives including Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Sateesh Seth are among those summoned. The ED has reportedly issued at least six summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) so far.

All the executives had previously been subject to searches by the ED as part of its probe. The agency suspects that these individuals played key roles in orchestrating transactions that allegedly defrauded a consortium of banks.



Reliance Infrastructure shares were trading at Rs 296.15, down 4.99% on Monday at 1:51 PM. Meanwhile, Reliance Power's shares were down by 5.01% at the same time.

An ET Bureau exclusive report on Monday revealed that the ED also plans to summon officials from nearly 20 public and private sector banks that had extended loans to various Reliance Group companies. The agency intends to question these officials on the due diligence exercised before sanctioning loans and the steps taken when repayments failed.

“We want to ascertain what action the banks took, if any, against the companies which defaulted. Did they lodge a complaint with any investigating agency, seeking registration of a criminal case against the companies?” a senior official told ET.

According to the ET report, ED’s line of inquiry will include understanding the credit assessment processes followed by lenders, many of whom are believed to have issued loans that later turned into non-performing assets.

Rs 17,000 crore loan fraud: What the case is about?

The money laundering investigation centres around alleged irregularities in loans worth approximately Rs 17,000 crore extended to three Reliance Group companies—Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), and Reliance Communications (RCom). According to ED data cited by the ET report, RHFL owes over Rs 5,901 crore, RCFL Rs 8,226 crore, and RCom nearly Rs 4,105 crore to various lenders.

Apart from Yes Bank, other financial institutions involved include State Bank of India, UCO Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India, and Punjab and Sind Bank.

ET was the first to report on August 1 that the ED had summoned Anil Ambani for questioning. He is expected to appear at the ED headquarters in New Delhi on August 5.

In a development linked to the case, the ED on Friday arrested Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd (BTPL), for allegedly arranging a fake bank guarantee worth Rs 68 crore for a Reliance Group entity. The agency informed the court that Biswal had received Rs 5.40 crore from Reliance Power Ltd, parent company of Reliance Nu Bess Ltd, in return for the forged guarantee submitted for a tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI).

According to the ED, documentary evidence indicates collusion between Biswal Tradelink and Reliance Nu Bess, contradicting the latter’s claim of being defrauded. A senior official told ET, “Documentary evidence reveals that apparently the two parties acted in collusion. The directors of Biswal Tradelink were found to be previous directors of Reliance Group.”

The agency also recovered several incriminating documents and digital devices during its August 1 raids. It alleged that BTPL maintained multiple undisclosed bank accounts and conducted transactions disproportionate to its declared turnover, with "dummy directors" used to facilitate operations.

The Delhi Police FIR in the case was initially based on a complaint by Reliance Nu Bess, accusing BTPL of fraud. However, ED officials now believe the two firms may have been jointly involved in the forgery.

In a statement issued Friday, the Reliance Group maintained that it acted “bonafidely” and was itself a “victim of fraud, forgery, and cheating conspiracy.”

The group stated it had made due disclosures to stock exchanges in November 2024 and had lodged a criminal complaint against the third party with the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing in October 2024.