ED makes 3rd Arrest in ₹100 Crore Fake Bank Guarantee Case Linked to Reliance NU BESS Ltd

The arrest was made on November 6, 2025, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, following extensive investigation into fraudulent submissions made to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI).

According to the official press release issued by the ED on November 7, 2025, the case pertains to the submission of forged bank guarantees worth over ₹68 crore, along with fake endorsements and fabricated SFMS confirmations by a subsidiary of Reliance Power Ltd. in a SECI tender.

The scam led to a financial loss exceeding ₹100 crore to SECI, a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

The ED stated, “Amar Nath Dutta played an active role along with Ashok Pal and Partha Sarathi Biswal in providing fake bank guarantees. He claimed to provide consultancy services in trade financing.” Dutta was produced before the Additional Sessions Judge-04, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, where the Court granted four days of ED custody till November 10, 2025, for further interrogation.

Also read: Reliance Comm. BankFraud: ED Seizes ₹4,462 Crore Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City Land

This is the third arrest in the ongoing investigation. Earlier, the ED had apprehended Ashok Kumar Pal, the then Chief Financial Officer of Reliance Power Ltd, and Partha Sarathi Biswal, the Managing Director of M/s Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd., a shell company allegedly used to channel fraudulent financial documents. The ED had also identified Biswal as the first point of contact in generating the bogus bank guarantees.

The investigation, initiated based on three FIRs including FIR No. 0079/2025 filed by SECI with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, has revealed a web of deceit involving forged State Bank of India (SBI) endorsements and the use of spoofed email domains to mislead authorities. One such fake domain, “sbi.17313@s-bi.co.in”, was created to mimic the official SBI address and dupe SECI into accepting the fraudulent guarantees.

The ED further uncovered several spoofed domains of reputed banks, such as ‘lndiabank.in’, ‘lndusindbank.in’, ‘pnblndia.in’, ‘psdbank.co.in’, ‘siliguripnb.co.in’, ‘lobbank.co.in’, and ‘unionbankofIndia.co.in’, each employing minor spelling changes to impersonate legitimate institutions. The Directorate noted that these domains were used by “the same set of persons” to perpetuate fraud across multiple financial entities.

A senior ED official commented that the ongoing investigation aims to “identify the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime, trace the end-use of the funds, and examine assets acquired through illicit means.” The agency is also probing the larger conspiracy and involvement of additional individuals and corporate entities.

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