3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Apr 17, 2026 03:50 AM IST
Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrest Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, former ADAG top executive, and Amit Bapna, former Reliance Capital CFO, in connection with a bank loan fraud-linked money laundering case. (ANI Photo)
A Delhi court on Thursday sent Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Amit Bapna, former top executives of the Reliance ADAG group, to five-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The duo is being investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an alleged multi-crore financial fraud involving siphoning of funds through group entities.
The court’s order follows the late-night arrest of the duo by the agency on Wednesday. The ED had sought a seven-day custody to untangle what it described as a “complex web of shell companies” used to divert bank loans.
“The case is at a very initial stage and the exact role of each and every person has to be determined whether accused persons had acted in concert with each other. The available material on record indicate that there is imminent possibility of involving some other persons and the entire money trail of about Rs 11,500 crore is required to be traced so the proceeds of crime can be recovered,” said Special Judge Hasan Anzar of Rouse Avenue Court in his order dated April 16.
“The accused persons are required to be confronted with the documents and the entire gamut of the complex transaction are required to be unveiled during the course of investigation,” he added.
The allegations against Jhunjhunwala, the former vice-chairman of Reliance Capital, and Bapna, who served as the firm’s chief financial officer, centre on the alleged diversion of public money from Reliance Home Finance Ltd and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd. The ED claims that funds sanctioned as loans were systematically moved through a series of interconnected companies, many of which allegedly existed only on paper. According to the agency, their investigation revealed an alleged “pre-conceived and well planned scheme to siphon off public money” from the two firms through various shell companies under the pretext of corporate loans by “cheating banks, share holders, investors and other public institutions”.
As per the ED, which was represented by Special Public Prosecutor Simon Benjamin, about 90 per cent of these corporate loans were allegedly disbursed to shell companies operated and controlled by the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. It added that these loans were advanced to 98 loan accounts of 45 different entities.
The alleged fraud is linked to a broader investigation into banking irregularities involving nearly Rs 40,000 crore. In this case, the alleged proceeds of crime cross over Rs 6,200 crore.
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“The ED has been able to demonstrate that after taking loan from various entities the funds were disbursed to various shell companies, and so far the investigation has disclosed that such entities were under the control of Reliance Anil Ambani Group,” said the court.
The duo are expected to appear before the court again on April 21, upon the expiry of their custody.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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