New Delhi, Nov 7: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a third arrest in its ongoing money laundering investigation linked to a purported fake bank guarantee of ₹68 crore involving Anil Ambani’s group company, Reliance Power, officials said on Friday.
Amar Nath Dutta was taken into custody on Thursday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was remanded to four days of ED custody by a special court, sources confirmed.
Earlier, the agency had arrested former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal and Partha Sarathi Biswal, Managing Director of Bhubaneswar-based Biswal Tradelink, which is alleged to have been at the centre of a racket providing fake bank guarantees to corporate clients.
The case revolves around a bank guarantee worth ₹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. Investigations later revealed that the guarantee, purportedly issued by the FirstRand Bank from Manila, Philippines, was fake — as the bank does not have a branch in that country.
According to the ED, Biswal Tradelink used a deceptive email domain (s-bi.co.in) resembling the official domain of the State Bank of India (sbi.co.in) to send forged communications to SECI, creating an impression of authenticity. The company was found to be a “paper entity,” operating from a residential address linked to Biswal’s relatives.
The money laundering case stems from a Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) FIR filed in November 2024, which alleged that Biswal Tradelink charged an 8% commission for issuing fake bank guarantees.
In response, Reliance Power had stated that it was a victim of fraud, forgery, and cheating, and had lodged its own complaint with the EOW in October 2024. The company clarified that Anil Ambani has not been on Reliance Power’s board for over three and a half years and has “no connection with the matter.” (Agencies)
