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Informist, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a public interest litigation filed by former government secretary E.A.S. Sarma, seeking a court-monitored probe into the large-scale bank fraud perpetrated by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, its Chairman Anil Ambani, Reliance Communications Ltd., and related entities. The petitioner sought court directions for the constitution of a special investigation team comprising officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to conduct a thorough, impartial, and time-bound investigation into the alleged bank fraud. Further, the petitioner requested for directions that the investigation into the affairs of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, its promoters, directors, and connected entities be monitored by the top court, so as to ensure a fair, independent, and comprehensive probe which is free from external influences. 

 

The investigating agencies, in the present matter, have overlooked the five-year delay in filing the first information report by the State Bank of India, which clearly indicates involvement of bank officials and other public servants whose conduct enabled, concealed, or facilitated the fraud. Despite being in possession of the 2020 forensic audit report, based on which the complaint was filed and which contains details about issues regarding diversion, evergreening, fictitious transactions, and use of shell entities, SBI chose to take no statutory action until August 2025, said the petitioner.

 

The delay in filing the first information report cannot be explained without examining whether officers of the bank acted in collusion or with deliberate intent to shield the borrower group, said the petitioner. The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, however, have entirely failed to investigate this institutional angle, thereby excluding from scrutiny the public officials whose complicity or wilful inaction forms an essential part of the criminal conspiracy, said the petitioner. Since these bank officials are "public servants" under Section 2(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, their omissions and commissions attract offences under the Act, making the agencies' failure to investigate them a grave legal deficiency, Sarma added.

 

The case has its genesis in Reliance Communications Ltd. and its group entities, Reliance Infratel Ltd. and Reliance Telecom Ltd., borrowing INR 315.80 billion from a consortium of banks led by SBI between 2013 and 2017. SBI, through its Deputy General Manager Jyoti Kumar, registered the first information report on Aug. 21. The complaint alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct by Reliance Communications, Anil Ambani and other unknown public servants and individuals, resulting in a wrongful loss of INR 29.29 billion. The first information report was based on a forensic audit report covering the period from 2013 to 2017.

 

Currently, the probe being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate excludes the role of bank officials, public servants, and regulatory authorities who form an integral part of the transactional matrix, violating Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, said the petitioner. A fair, impartial, and comprehensive investigation is a facet of the right to life under Article 21, the petitioner added. A fraud of this magnitude, involving public money and public institutions, cannot be investigated in a piecemeal manner without examining the conduct of public sector bank officials, statutory regulators, and government authorities, said the petitioner.

 

The five-year unexplained delay by the State Bank of India and the inertia displayed by institutions like the Enforcement Directorate clearly indicate deeper institutional complicity that the investigating agencies have entirely ignored, said the petitioner. Despite material indicating frauds aggregating to more than INR 200 billion and searches conducted across over 35 premises, no arrests have been made, no assets have been seized and no accounts have been frozen, indicating difficulty on part of the investigating agencies and necessitating judicial supervision, the petitioner added.

 

"The trajectory of the ADA (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani) Group under Respondent No. 5(Anil Ambani) confirms a pattern of chronic financial destruction, personal legal liability, and colossal public wealth erosion, which cumulatively underscores the necessity for comprehensive criminal investigation. Cobra post report reveals that since the formation of the Reliance ADA Group, the combined market capitalization declined dramatically, resulting in investors losing Rs. 1,59,721 crores (INR 1.6 trillion) of their wealth by June 2019, from a high of Rs 1,65,917 crores(INR 1.7 trillion) in January 2008," said the petitioner.

 

At 1318 IST, shares of State Bank of India were up 0.4% at INR 972 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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