Fraud: SC seeks replies from Centre, CBI, ED, Anil Ambani on PIL

In a significant development, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, CBI, ED, Anil Ambani and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) on a PIL seeking a court-monitored probe into alleged massive banking and corporate fraud involving the ADAG and its group companies.

A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran took note of the submissions made by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner and former Union Secretary E AS Sarma, and sought the replies within three weeks. The bench posted the PIL for further hearing after three weeks.

Bhushan argued that the probe agencies are not investigating the alleged complicity of banks and their officials in the huge banking fraud. He sought a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file respective status reports with regard to the probe against banks and their officials in the case. Bhushan said the instant case is “probably the largest corporate fraud in India’s history”. 

The FIR was registered in 2025, though the fraud was going on since 2007-08, the lawyer alleged. “We want a status report from the ED and the CBI on what they are investigating. Clearly, they are not probing the collusion by the banks,” said Bhushan, seeking a probe monitored by the apex court.

The PIL alleged systematic diversion of public funds, fabrication of financial statements and institutional complicity across multiple entities of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG. It said the FIR registered by the CBI on August 21, along with the connected ED proceedings, addresses merely a small segment of the alleged fraud.

The petition claimed that despite detailed forensic audits flagging serious irregularities, neither agency is probing the role of bank officials, auditors or regulators, which the petitioner called a “critical failure”. “Issue a Writ of Mandamus… Or direction directing a court-monitored investigation by the CBI and ED to conduct a thorough, impartial, and time-bound investigation into the financial fraud perpetrated by Respondent No. 4 (Anil Ambani) and Respondent No. 5 (ADAG),” the plea said.

The petition states that only judicial oversight can ensure that a matter involving such extensive public money exposure is thoroughly investigated and that all responsible individuals are held accountable. Petitioner EAS Sarma was the former Secretary of Expenditure, Economic Affairs and Power in the Central Government and was associated with many public interest litigations.