A Delhi court has extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Ashok Kumar Pal, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director of Reliance Power, until October 16, 2025. The ED had sought an additional three days of custodial interrogation in connection with a case involving alleged fake bank guarantees and invoicing. Pal's custody was initially granted for two days and was to end on Monday, October 13, 2025. He is the first senior executive of the Reliance ADA Group to be arrested in the bank guarantee case.
The arrest and subsequent custody extension stem from an ED investigation into an alleged money laundering probe linked to a purported ₹17,000-crore bank loan fraud involving the Anil Ambani Group. The ED alleges that Pal played a "key role" in executing a fraudulent bank guarantee of more than ₹68 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). According to the agency, this guarantee was part of a larger scheme involving fake billing, shell companies, and fake email domains, all designed to present fraudulent financial instruments as legitimate.
The ED has accused Pal of helping to appoint Biswal Tradelink Private Limited, a company allegedly lacking a credible background, to issue fake bank guarantees. The agency claims that this was part of a scheme to divert public funds from a listed company in which more than 75 percent of its shares were held by the public.
The case originates from a November 2024 FIR filed by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The FIR alleges that the company issued fake bank guarantees for a commission of 8 percent. Reliance Group has stated that Reliance Power was a "victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy" and had filed a criminal complaint against the accused company with Delhi Police's EOW in October 2024.
In light of the ongoing investigation, Reliance Power stated that Ashok Kumar Pal has demitted the office of Executive Director and CFO with immediate effect. The company clarified that Anil D. Ambani has not been on its board for over 3.5 years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner.
The ED had previously conducted searches at the premises of the company and its promoters in August and arrested its Managing Director, Partha Sarathi Biswal. Anil Ambani was also summoned by the ED for questioning in the case to probe allegations that Yes Bank, under the leadership of its then CEO Rana Kapoor, had extended large loans to the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group of companies. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also filed chargesheets in two corruption cases involving Rana Kapoor.
