The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Sunday that it had filed chargesheets in two distinct money-laundering cases involving companies and former executives associated with the Reliance Anil Ambani Group (RAAG).
In the first case, the ED filed a prosecution complaint on Saturday in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Dwarka against Reliance Infrastructure Limited, former Reliance Group executive Sateesh Seth, who is 70, and others.
The ED arrested Seth in June, and he is still in judicial custody. He left the Reliance Group in 2025. In the second case, the ED filed a supplementary chargesheet on Saturday in a special court at Rouse Avenue related to Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM). The main chargesheet was filed in March.
The agency said that RCOM, Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), former RAAG executives Seth, Gautam Doshi, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, and others are named as accused in this prosecution complaint under the PMLA.
The ED arrested Doshi in June and Seth in July. Both remain in judicial custody. Doshi left the RAAG in 2020. The chargesheet in the Reliance Infrastructure case is based on a February FIR from the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The FIR says that shell companies were created and operated using forged documents and bank accounts to move money and send funds overseas through fake invoices for overpriced diamond exports.
The ED said its investigation found an “organised scheme” to “divert” public funds from four toll-road projects awarded by the NHAI: Trichy-Karur (NH-67), Trichy-Dindigul (NH-45), Salem-Ulundurpet (NH-68), and Jaipur-Reengus (NH-11). The projects were funded by NHAI grants and loans from banks and financial institutions.
“About Rs 187 crore was siphoned during September-October 2010 through sham, post-facto or back-dated arrangements for fictitious sub-contracting work,” the agency has alleged.
The agency said that funds were moved from Reliance Infrastructure, its project-specific special purpose vehicles, or EPC contractors to construction contractors, and then to shell companies not involved in road construction. “Documents were later created to make the transfers look like real project expenses, while the money was moved through shell companies and diamond traders,” the ED said. The agency also said it has attached immovable assets and equity shares of Reliance Power Limited, held by Reliance Infrastructure, as well as land in the name of Ksheeraabd Constructions worth Rs 187 crore. “Further investigation with respect to the role of other individuals is underway,” it has added.
The supplementary chargesheet is based on several CBI FIRs that claim RCOM, RTL, and Reliance Infratel Limited diverted both fund-based and non-fund-based credit facilities. The investigation found that new credit was often used to repay, rotate, and extend earlier domestic and foreign debts, instead of being used for its approved purposes.
“Funds were layered through group companies, purpose-built conduit entities, multiple bank accounts, and liquid mutual funds; used to pay off earlier External Commercial Borrowings and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCB); and shown as legitimate business expenses or income,” the agency alleged. It also said that loan proceeds were “diverted” to group companies like Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Capital Limited, siphoned off to buy personal assets for the promoters outside India, and used to inflate RCOM’s profits artificially.
The ED estimates the proceeds of crime in this case at Rs 40,185 crore and has attached assets worth Rs 8,078 crore. The agency has asked for these assets to be confiscated from the Anil Ambani Group in its chargesheet. Former RAAG executives named in the case could not be reached for comment.