Special Judge grants 2-day ED custody of Reliance Power CFO in fake bank guarantee case

New Delhi [India], October 11 (ANI): The Special Judge granted two days' custody of Ashok Kumar Pal, CFO and Executive Director of Reliance Industries, to the ED. He has been arrested in a case involving a fake bank guarantee. He was produced at the residence of the Special Judge by the ED.
Special Judge Kiran Gupta granted 2 days' custody of Ashok Kumar Pal to the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Pal is to be produced in the Patiala House Court on Monday.
The ED had sought a 5-day ED custody of the accused, Ashok Kumar Pal. Advocate Vijay Agarwal appeared for Ashok Kumar Pal.
During the hearing, an application was filed by Advocate Vijay Agarwal, Counsel for the accused, seeking directions declaring the arrest of the accused/applicant as illegal.
The Defence Counsel submitted that the ED arrested the present accused without obtaining prior court permission, contrary to settled law, even after the complaint was filed before the present court.
After perusing the application, the court stated that the Defence Counsel's submissions--that prior permission of the court was not obtained for further investigation prior to the arrest of the arrestee -- suggest to me that the trial of the case has not yet commenced, and even cognisance has yet to be taken. Without prejudice to the rights and contentions taken by the Defence Counsel during arguments and in the application, ED is granted 2 days' custody of the arrestee till October 13.
The arrestee is to be produced before the court on October 13 at 12 noon.
The court directed the ED to interrogate the accused at a place where CCTV cameras are installed.
The arrestee shall also be permitted to meet his advocate for half an hour daily between 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm during the said period of ED custody in a manner that the ED officials are unable to hear their conversations.
The Enforcement Directorate is also directed to provide the necessary medicines, if any, to the arrestee, as per his medical prescriptions. The court granted the ED time to file a reply to the application before the next date, October 13.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Reliance Power Limited (RPL), in connection with a fake bank guarantee and forged invoicing case linked to alleged fund diversion.
Officials said Pal was taken into custody late on Friday night after several hours of questioning at the agency's Delhi office.
According to sources, Pal, as the CFO of Reliance Power--a publicly listed company in which more than 75 per cent of the shares are held by the public--played a "crucial role" in the diversion of company funds and the submission of forged financial documents.
The investigation pertains to a fraudulent Bank Guarantee (BG) of over Rs 68 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tender.
Officials said Pal was empowered by a board resolution to finalise, approve, and execute documents on behalf of RPL for the SECI bid. In this capacity, he allegedly conspired to submit a fake bank guarantee with the intention of cheating the PSU.
The ED's probe revealed that the bogus guarantee was issued in the name of "FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines"--a location where the bank has no operational branch.
"The guarantee was arranged through Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd (BTPL), a small entity operating from a residential address with no credible record in providing such guarantees. BTPL director Partha Sarathi Biswal, already in judicial custody, is alleged to have assisted in executing the forged document," said the officials.
Investigators further alleged that Pal approved fake transport invoices worth several crores to facilitate fund diversion. He reportedly cleared payments and managed paperwork through Telegram and WhatsApp -- bypassing Reliance Power's official SAP and vendor master systems.
The ED also found that Pal used the services of a fake bank guarantee racket operating through spoofed email domains resembling those of major Indian banks, such as "s-bi.co.in" instead of the genuine "sbi.co.in".
Similar lookalike domains were used to impersonate other banks, including Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Punjab National Bank.
Officials said Pal's actions form part of a broader criminal conspiracy involving forged instruments and fraudulent communication channels aimed at deceiving public institutions and misappropriating funds from a listed company. (ANI)