The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday conducted searches at 17 premises in Mumbai in connection with three cases registered against Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies, Reliance Telecom, Reliance Commercial Finance, and Reliance Home Finance and their directors, a PTI report said, quoting CBI officials.
“These searches are being conducted at the residential premises of directors of the above-mentioned companies as well as at the office premises of intermediary companies whose accounts were used for diversion of bank funds,” a spokesperson for the Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Search operations findings
As per the report, the central investigative agency received a search warrant on Friday, which was issued by a special court in Mumbai on Friday.
CBI officials stated that the search operations have led to the seizure of incriminating documents, the report added. “Searches have also revealed that multiple intermediary companies were operating from the same address. The investigation is continuing,” the CBI official said in astatement said.
Previous CBI operations against Reliance Group
The Central Bureau of Investigation has lodged seven cases against the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, based on complaints from various public sector banks and LIC, in connection with alleged fraud involving thousands of crores of rupees.
The CBI had conducted searches at 14 locations in the last few months, immediately after the registration of these cases. The agency arrested two senior executives of RCom — joint president D Vishwanath, who was the overall in-charge of the group’s banking operations, and vice-president Anil Kalya, who had actively supported Vishwanath in managing banking operations, payments, and fund utilization — on April 24.
“Both the accused persons are presently in judicial custody. The investigation into the cases relating to the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group is being monitored by the Supreme Court,” CBI the statement said.
The total quantum of the alleged loss suffered by banks and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in these cases is Rs 27,337 crore, they added.