In the first case, a prosecution complaint was lodged on Saturday before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Dwarka against Reliance Infrastructure Limited, former Reliance Group executive Sateesh Seth (70), and others.
Seth was apprehended by the ED in June and currently remains in jail under judicial custody. He departed from the Reliance Group in 2025.
The second case pertains to a supplementary chargesheet filed by the federal agency before a special court at Rouse Avenue on Saturday regarding Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM). The initial chargesheet in this matter was filed by the ED in March.
Accused in this prosecution complaint, filed under the PMLA, include RCOM, Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), and former RAAG executives Seth, Gautam Doshi, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, and others, the agency stated.
Doshi was arrested by the ED in June, and Seth in July, and they remain in custody.
Doshi parted from the RAAG in 2020.
A statement from the Anil Ambani Group is anticipated. Immediate comments from the mentioned former RAAG executives were not available.
The chargesheet involving Reliance Infrastructure stems from a February FIR filed by the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW), claiming that shell companies were created and operated using forged documentation and bank accounts to route funds and outward remittances under the guise of fictitious invoices in inflated diamond exports.
The ED’s investigation revealed an “organized scheme” to “divert” public funds from four NHAI-awarded toll-road projects—Trichy-Karur (NH-67), Trichy-Dindigul (NH-45), Salem-Ulundurpet (NH-68), and Jaipur-Reengus (NH-11).
”The projects were financed through NHAI grants and loans from financial institutions.
Approximately Rs 187 crore was siphoned off during September-October 2010 through sham, post-facto, or backdated arrangements for fictitious subcontracting work,” the agency alleged.
The money trail moved from Reliance Infrastructure or its project-specific special purpose vehicles or EPC contractors to construction contractors and subsequently to shell entities having “no nexus” with road construction, it noted.
”Documents were later created to misrepresent these transfers as legitimate project expenditures, while the funds were funneled through shell entities and diamond traders,” the ED stated.
The agency reported that it has attached immovable assets and equity shares of Reliance Power Limited, held by Reliance Infrastructure, and land under Ksheeraabd Constructions valued at Rs 187 crore.
”Further investigation regarding the involvement of other individuals is ongoing,” it added.
The supplementary chargesheet arises from multiple CBI FIRs registered due to allegations of diversion of fund-based and non-fund-based credit facilities by RCOM, RTL, and Reliance Infratel Limited.
The probe uncovered that “new credit facilities were repeatedly utilized fraudulently to repay, rotate, and evergreen previous domestic and foreign liabilities instead of the sanctioned end-use.”
”Funds were layered through group companies, purpose-built conduit entities, multiple bank accounts, and liquid mutual funds; these were used to service earlier External Commercial Borrowings and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCB); and were falsely represented as legitimate business expenditures or receipts,” the agency alleged.
It claimed that loan proceeds were “diverted” to group companies, such as Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Capital Limited, and were utilized to acquire personal assets for the promoters abroad; and used to artificially boost RCOM’s profits.
The proceeds of crime in this case are estimated at Rs 40,185 crore, with the ED attaching assets worth Rs 8,078 crore. The agency has requested the confiscation of these attached assets in the chargesheet.
