ED files chargesheet against Reliance Power, subsidiaries in ‘fake’ bank guarantee case

“The ED has filed supplementary prosecution complaint at Patiala House Court against former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal, Reliance NU BESS Ltd. and Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd. (subsidiaries of Reliance Power), former CEO and Executive Director in Reliance Infrastructure, Punit Narendra Garg, Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Biswal Tradelink Private Limited (BTPL) and its company BTPL, Amar Nath Dutta, a Kolkata-based consultant, Biothane Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., Ravinder Pal Singh Chadha and Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde,” the spokesperson said.

“The ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by the EOW of Delhi Police against Reliance NU BESS Limited (a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Power Ltd) based on a complaint filed by SECI, and another FIR filed by Reliance NU BESS Ltd against BTPL and its MD Biswal,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson of Reliance Power Ltd said, “It is learnt from the press release dated December 06, 2025 issued by ED that a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint has been filed against Reliance Power Limited, its subsidiaries, Reliance NU BESS Limited, Rosa Power Supply Company Limited, Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde apart from other third parties in the matter related to SECI Bank guarantee. Vide earlier disclosures dated November 7, 2024 and November 14, 2024 we had informed that the Company, Reliance NU BESS Limited had lodged a criminal complaint in above matter against the third parties who had arranged the said bank guarantee with Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police on October 16, 2024, on basis of which FIR has been registered on November 11, 2024 against the said third parties.”

“It is reiterated that the Company, Reliance Power Limited, its subsidiaries and its employees acted bona-fidely and are victims of a fraud, forgery, cheating and conspiracy committed by the third parties. Based upon the said FIR, ED initiated its investigation. ED allegations have not yet passed through judicial scrutiny and the Company has not been held guilty of any wrongdoing. As per law settled by the Supreme Court, the company will get an opportunity to put across its case and facts before the court, even before cognizance, so filing of this complaint does not affect the affairs of the company in any manner. The Company will take appropriate steps as legally advised to safeguard its interests and the interests of all stakeholders and it maintains its as well as its officials’ innocence of any wrongdoing,” the spokesperson said.

“Investigation has established the connivance and mala fide intentions of Reliance Group in securing the SECI tender by submitting fake bank guarantees purportedly issued by foreign banks and their forged endorsements in the name of SBI. Before filing the prosecution complaint, the ED attached proceeds of crime worth Rs 5.15 crore,” the spokesperson said.

According to ED, Reliance Power Ltd through its subsidiary Reliance NU BESS Ltd submitted a bid for a tender issued by SECI for setting up 1000 MW/2000 MWh standalone BESS projects under tariff-based competitive bidding. “The bidder was required to submit a bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore along with the bid documents. As per the tender conditions, if the bank guarantee is issued by a foreign bank, then it requires endorsement of the same from an Indian branch of that foreign bank or from SBI,” the spokesperson said.

“Probe has revealed Reliance Power Ltd, with a malafide intent, hired the services of a shell entity, BTPL, to arrange a fake bank guarantee from First Rand Bank, Manila, Philippines, which is a non-existent branch, and from ACE Investment Bank Ltd, Malaysia. The endorsements of the fake bank guarantees were done by using a spoofed email ID of SBI and forged endorsement letters purportedly issued by SBI. A fraudulent domain, s-bi.co.in (a look-alike of sbi.co.in), was used,” the spokesperson alleged.

“Reliance Power Ltd routed funds of Rs 6.33 crore from its other subsidiary; Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd, to the shell entity BTPL under the guise of bogus transportation services, in order to meet the required funding for arranging the fake bank guarantee. Probe has also revealed that a fake work order and fake invoices were executed by officials of Reliance Group in collusion with accomplice Biswal. After arrangement of the fraudulent bank guarantee by BTPL, Reliance Power Ltd also paid a hefty fee of Rs 5.40 crore to the shell entity in order to depict the entire arrangement as a genuine commercial transaction,” the ED alleged.

“Since the Reliance NU BESS Ltd had emerged as the L-2 bidder, in order to save the tender, Reliance Group officials even tried to arrange a fresh endorsement of the fake foreign bank guarantee from an SBI branch in Kolkata. Again, during this process, Reliance Group officials signed a dummy agreement and also obtained the ‘certificate of enlistment’ of Reliance NU BESS Ltd from Kolkata Municipal Corporation by submitting bogus address documents,” the spokesperson said, adding that however, when they again failed to get the fresh endorsement done, in order to shift the blame to the intermediary, they filed a complaint against BTPL and its MD, Biswal.