Industrialist Anil Ambani’s residence ‘Sea Wind’ at Cuffe Parade, in Mumbai. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a fresh case against Reliance Communications Limited (RCom), along with its erstwhile directors Anil Ambani and Manjari Ashok Kacker, and unknown others, in connection with an alleged ₹1,085-crore bank loan fraud.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) dated March 5, they have been accused of cheating Punjab National Bank (PNB) and the erstwhile United Bank of India (since merged with PNB) during April 2023 and March 2017, causing a loss of over ₹1,085 crore to the banks.
As alleged, the company failed to maintain financial discipline, diverted funds, and violated the terms and conditions of sanction. The loan account became irregular and was classified as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) in June 2017. The complaint lodged by the bank flagged alleged diversion of funds through payments to related parties.
This is the third CBI case involving RCom. On February 24, the agency had instituted a second case against the company, Mr. Ambani, and others for allegedly cheating Bank of Baroda (BoB) to the tune of ₹2,220 crore. Subsequently, it searched the premises linked to the accused.
It was alleged that the loan funds were diverted through fictitious transactions with related entities and RCom’s books of accounts were manipulated and irregularities concealed. BoB’s loan account was declared NPA in 2017 itself, the agency said. However, there was a stay on the declaration of the accounts as a fraud following a petition filed by Mr. Ambani in the Bombay High Court. The stay was vacated on February 23, after which the bank filed the complaint with the CBI.
The first case against RCom was based on a complaint from the State Bank of India, the lead bank of a consortium comprising 11 banks. The BoB was not a part of that group of lenders. The second case is related to another loan taken from BoB, the then Vijaya Bank, and the then Dena Bank, which later merged with the BoB.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the alleged money-laundering angle. It has so far attached assets worth over ₹15,700 crore pertaining to the Reliance (Anil Ambani) Group, including Anil Ambani’s residential property in Mumbai’s Pali Hill worth ₹3,716.83 crore. RCom and its group companies have taken loans from domestic and foreign lenders, of which a total of ₹40,185 crore is outstanding, the ED has alleged.
Published – March 07, 2026 07:28 pm IST
