ED Makes Third Arrest in Reliance Power ‘Fake Bank Guarantee’ Money Laundering Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a third arrest in its money-laundering probe involving a ₹68 crore fake bank guarantee linked to Reliance Power, a company of the Anil Ambani group, officials said on Friday.

Amar Nath Dutta was arrested on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and sent to four days of ED custody by a special court. Earlier, the agency had arrested former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal and Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Biswal Tradelink, an Odisha-based firm accused of issuing fraudulent guarantees.

The case stems from a November 2024 FIR by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) alleging that Biswal Tradelink provided “fake” bank guarantees to clients for an 8% commission.

The guarantee in question — worth ₹68.2 crore — was submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a Reliance Power subsidiary, but was later found to be issued in the name of FirstRand Bank, Manila, which has no branch in the Philippines.

The ED claims Biswal Tradelink used a fake email domain (s-bi.co.in) mimicking SBI’s official domain (sbi.co.in) to create a false impression of authenticity in its communications.

Reliance Power has maintained that it was a “victim of fraud, forgery, and cheating”, had filed a criminal complaint with Delhi Police in October 2024, and had disclosed the issue to stock exchanges in November 2024. The company also clarified that Anil Ambani has not been on Reliance Power’s board for over three and a half years and has no involvement in the matter.