ED Files Chargesheet Against Reliance Power And 10 others

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against Reliance Power Ltd., two of its subsidiaries and ten individuals in a money laundering case linked to what investigators allege was the use of a fake bank guarantee worth ₹68 crore to secure a government tender.

Filed before a Patiala House court on Friday, the prosecution complaint names former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal, Reliance NU BESS Ltd., Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd., Odisha-based shell entity Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd., its managing director Partha Sarathi Biswal, Biothane Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., and trade financing consultant Amar Nath Dutta. Others named include Ravinder Pal Singh Chadha, Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde and Punit Narendra Garg, according to PTI.

The case stems from a November 2024 FIR registered by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing. Investigators alleged that Biswal Tradelink was engaged in issuing “fake” bank guarantees against commission, PTI reported.

The ED has said the matter relates to a ₹68.2-crore bank guarantee submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Ltd., a subsidiary of the listed company Reliance Power. Reliance NU BESS, earlier known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited, had submitted its bid for SECI’s tender to set up 1000 MW/2000 MWh standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.

According to the agency, Reliance Group officials were aware that the bank guarantee was “fake”. It alleged that “fraudulent” endorsements were communicated to SECI from a spoofed State Bank of India email address. When SECI detected the irregularity, the group obtained a fresh, genuine guarantee from IDBI Bank “within a day” of the alert — but SECI refused to accept it because it came after the due date. PTI reported that investigators found Reliance officials attempted to preserve the tender by seeking another endorsement of the foreign bank guarantee from an SBI branch in Kolkata.

The chargesheet states that the group signed a “dummy” agreement and secured a “Certificate of Enlistment” for Reliance NU BESS from Kolkata Municipal Corporation using “bogus” address documents.

Reliance Group has maintained that Anil Ambani “was not on the Board of Reliance Power Limited for more than 3.5 years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner”. It has claimed the company was a “victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy”, adding that it disclosed the issue to the stock exchange on 7 November 2024.

The ED has alleged that Reliance Power hired Biswal Tradelink to arrange a fake bank guarantee supposedly issued by FirstRand Bank, Manila — a “non-existent” branch, and by ACE Investment Bank Ltd., Malaysia. Forged endorsements were then issued using a fraudulent domain, “s-bi.co.in”, resembling SBI’s genuine “sbi.co.in”.

The agency said Reliance Power routed ₹6.33 crore from another subsidiary, Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd., to Biswal Tradelink under “bogus transportation services” to meet costs for arranging the fake guarantee. A “fake” work order and “fake” invoices were allegedly executed jointly by company officials and Biswal. After the guarantee was arranged, Reliance Power allegedly paid a further ₹5.40 crore to Biswal Tradelink to depict the arrangement as a legitimate commercial transaction.

When attempts to secure a fresh endorsement failed, investigators said Reliance officials shifted blame by filing a police complaint against Biswal Tradelink and its MD. Biswal, former CFO Pal and consultant Dutta were subsequently arrested and remain in judicial custody.

The agency said it has attached assets worth ₹5.15 crore during the probe.

(With inputs from PTI)