ED files chargesheet against Reliance Power, 10 others

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has filed a chargesheet against businessman Anil Ambani’s group company, Reliance Power Ltd and 10 others in a money laundering case linked to the issuance of an alleged fake bank guarantee of `68 crore for securing a tender.

The other accused named in the prosecution complaint includes former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal, Reliance NU BESS Ltd and Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd (subsidiaries of Reliance Power), an Odisha-based “shell” company Biswal Tradelink Private Limited, its MD Patha Sarathi Biswal, Biothane Chemicals Pvt Ltd and trade financing consultant Amar Nath Dutta. Some other accused include Ravinder Pal Singh Chadha, Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde and Punit Narendra Garg, as per the agency.

The chargesheet has been filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the Patiala House court in Delhi on Friday, as per officials. The case pertains to a bank guarantee of `68.2 crore submitted to secure a tender from the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, a listed company. The company (Reliance NU BESS) was formerly known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited.

Probe found, as per the agency, that Reliance Group officials were well aware that this was a “fake” bank guarantee. “Fraudulent” endorsements were being submitted to SECI from a “spoofed” email ID of SBI, and when SECI detected the fraud, Reliance Group arranged a genuine Bank Guarantee from IDBI Bank within a day of intimation of the fraud by SECI.

“However, SECI refused to accept the fresh Bank Guarantee as it was submitted after the due date. “Since Reliance NU BESS Limited had emerged as the L-2 bidder, to save the tender, Reliance Group officials even tried to arrange a fresh endorsement of the fake foreign Bank Guarantee from an SBI branch in Kolkata,” the ED alleged.

The Reliance Group had earlier said 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 claimed to have been a “victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy” in this case adding that it had made due disclosures in this context to the stock exchange on November 7, 2024.

The ED added that Reliance Group officials signed a “dummy” agreement and also obtained the “Certificate of Enlistment” of Reliance NU BESS Limited from Kolkata Municipal Corporation by submitting “bogus” address documents, it said. However, when they again failed to get the fresh endorsement done, to shift the entire blame onto the intermediary, they filed a complaint against Biswal Tradelink Private Limited and its MD, Partha Sarathi Biswal.

Biswal was arrested by the ED in this case, apart from ex-Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal and Dutta. They are currently lodged in jail under judicial custody. The money laundering case stems from a November 2024 FIR of Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW). It was alleged that Bhubaneswar-based shell entity Biswal Tradelink was engaged in issuing “fake” bank guarantees against commission. Reliance Power Limited submitted this bid for a tender issued by SECI for setting up 1000 MW/2000 MWh standalone BESS projects under tariff-based competitive bidding.

The investigation has “established” the “connivance” and “mala fide” intentions of the Reliance Group in securing the SECI tender by submitting fake Bank Guarantees purportedly issued by foreign banks and their forged endorsements in the name of SBI, the ED said. The agency also stated in the chargesheet that it has attached assets worth `5.15 crore as part of this probe. The agency added that Reliance Power, with a mala fide intent, hired the services of Biswal Tradelink to arrange a fake Bank Guarantee from FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines, which is a “non-existent” branch, and from ACE Investment Bank Limited, Malaysia.

“Endorsements of the fake Bank Guarantees were done by using a spoofed email ID of SBI and forged endorsement letters purportedly issued by SBI. “A fraudulent domain, s-bi.Co.In (a look-alike of genuine address sbi.Co.In), was used for the said purpose,” it said. Describing the role of other accused, the ED said Reliance Power routed funds of `6.33 crore from its other subsidiary, Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd to Biswal Tradelink under the guise of bogus transportation services, in order to meet the required funding for arranging the fake Bank Guarantee.

A “fake” work order and “fake” invoices were executed by the officials of Reliance Group in collusion with accomplice Biswal. “After the arrangement of the fraudulent Bank Guarantee by Biswal Tradelink, Reliance Power also paid a hefty fee of `5.40 crore to the said shell entity to depict the entire arrangement as a genuine commercial transaction,” the ED claimed.

BSES spokesperson, in a statement, said it is learnt from the Press release dated December 06, 2025, issued by ED that a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint has been filed against Reliance Power Limited, its subsidiaries, Reliance NU BESS Limited, Rosa Power Supply Company Limited, Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde, apart from other third parties in the matter related to SECI Bank guarantee.

“Vide earlier disclosures dated November 7, 2024 and November 14, 2024 we had informed that the Company, Reliance NU BESS Limited had lodged a criminal complaint in above matter against the third parties who had arranged the said bank guarantee with Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police on October 16, 2024, on basis of which First Information Report (FIR) has been registered on November 11, 2024 against the said third parties.  It is reiterated that the Company, Reliance Power Limited, its subsidiaries and its employees acted bona fide and are victims of a fraud, forgery, cheating and conspiracy committed by the third parties,” the statement read. 

“ED allegations have not yet passed through judicial scrutiny, and the Company has not been held guilty of any wrongdoing. As per law settled by the Supreme Court, the company will get an opportunity to put across its case and facts before the court, even before cognisance, so filing of this complaint does not affect the affairs of the company in any manner,” said the BSES statement.