CBI Books Anil Ambani, RCom for Bank Fraud

New Delhi/Mumbai, Aug 23 (PTI) The CBI on Sunday searched the residence of Reliance Communication Ltd. (RCOM) Director Anil Ambani in Mumbai on Saturday after recently registering a case for allegedly defrauding the State Bank of India of Rs 2929.05 crore, officials said.

Teams of CBI conducted the searches at two locations in Mumbai on Saturday -- the official premises of Reliance Communication Ltd., and residential premises of Anil D Ambani, the agency said in a statement.

The CBI registered an FIR on Thursday against Reliance Communication Ltd. (RCOM), Mumbai, its Director Anil D. Ambani, unknown public servants and unknown others on the basis of the complaint from the SBI, it said.

The searches took place at Ambani's residence 'Sea Wind' at Cuffe Parade in Mumbai, sources said.

Ambani and RCom have been booked for allegedly committing offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, the CBI has said.

The case was filed on the allegations of defrauding the bank, and thereby causing wrongful loss of Rs 2929.05 crore to the bank, it said.

"It is alleged that the accused persons, in criminal conspiracy, misrepresented and got sanctioned credit facilities from SBI in favour of Reliance Communication Ltd," the CBI Spokesperson said.

She said it was also alleged that there was misutilisation and diversion of loan funds, potential routing of loan funds, inter-company loan transactions, misutilisation of sales invoice financing, discounting of bills of RCOM by Reliance Infratel Ltd., movement of funds through inter-company deposits among others.

Capital advances given to Netizen Engineering Pvt. Ltd. -- a group company of Reliance ADA Group -- were written off. Besides, fictitious debtors were created and written off, the agency has allegedly.

"The CBI obtained Search Warrants from the Court of Special Judge, CBI, Mumbai on August 22, 2025, and, in pursuance thereof, is conducting searches today (August 23, 2025) at two locations in Mumbai i.e. at the official premises of M/s Reliance Communication Ltd., and residential premises of Sh. Anil D Ambani," she said.

The SBI had classified the account and promoter Anil Ambani as 'fraud' on November 10, 2020 and filed a complaint with the CBI on January 5, 2021.

However, the complaint was returned in view of the 'status quo' order dated January 6, 2021, by the Delhi High Court.

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court judgement dated March 27, 2023, in State Bank of India and Others Vs Rajesh Agarwal and Others case mandated that lenders provide borrowers with an opportunity to represent before classifying their accounts as fraud.

The fraud classification in the account was reversed by the bank on September 2, 2023.

The fraud classification process was re-run, and the account was again classified as 'fraud' after following the due process as per the RBI circular dated July 15, 2024.

The credit exposure of SBI in RCom includes fund-based principal outstanding amount of Rs 2,227.64 crore, along with the accrued interest and expenses with effect from August 26, 2016, and a non-fund-based Bank Guarantee of Rs 786.52 crore.

RCom is undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The resolution plan was approved by the Committee of Creditors and filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, on March 6, 2020.

The NCLT approval is awaited.

The bank has also initiated a Personal Insolvency Resolution Process under IBC against Anil D Ambani, and it is being heard by NCLT, Mumbai.