New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation filed its first comprehensive chargesheet in the Reliance Commercial Finance Limited bank fraud case before a special court in Mumbai on Tuesday. The federal investigative agency has named seven entities and individuals as accused, including two prominent Reliance Group companies—Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Home Finance Limited. The legal action outlines a complex financial operation involving criminal conspiracy, corporate cheating, and the deliberate diversion of substantial public funds, marking a significant step forward in the multi-layered regulatory crackdown on the conglomerate’s historical debt defaults.
The central chargesheet explicitly names five former high-ranking executives of RCFL, identifying them as key orchestrators of the financial irregularities. The list includes Devang Pravin Mody, former Director and Chief Executive Officer; Ravindra Somayajula Rao, former Director; Dhananjay Bhagwanprasad Tiwari, former Director; Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, former Executive Risk Officer; and Lav Chaturvedi, former Chief Risk Officer. According to detailed forensic findings presented by the federal agency, corporate funds borrowed from a consortium of state-run financial institutions were systematically routed through intricate chains of intermediary and conduit entities before being injected into various Reliance ADA Group companies, violating the foundational terms governing the credit sanctions.
The primary criminal case originated from a series of structured complaints lodged by the Bank of Maharashtra alongside other public sector lenders forming part of the 13-bank consortium. The investigative agency calculated the collective wrongful loss inflicted upon these public sector banks at approximately ₹4,097 crore. While central investigators have already secured the arrests of high-profile corporate figures—including Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, former Vice Chairman of Reliance Capital, and Amit Bapna, former Chief Financial Officer—the agency clarified that the broader multi-jurisdictional probe remains open under the strict monitoring of the Supreme Court of India, with supplementary chargesheets expected to track the roles of additional public servants and board directors.
