SC issues notice on PIL seeking probe into alleged bank fraud by Anil Ambani-led RCOM

New Delhi, Nov 18 The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Union government, Anil Ambani, and Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a court-monitored probe into an alleged “large-scale, organised bank fraud” perpetrated by the company and its group entities.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran sought responses from all respondents within three weeks.

The plea seeks the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), contending that only a judicially supervised probe can ensure a “comprehensive, coordinated, and transparent investigation” into the alleged offences.

As per the PIL, the FIR registered by the CBI in August this year covers only a fraction of the financial irregularities despite extensive material pointing to diversion of funds, round-tripping, fictitious transactions, and systematic misuse of bank loans by RCOM and its group companies.

The plea alleged that the State Bank of India (SBI), the lead lender in a consortium that extended Rs. 31,580 crore between 2013 and 2017 waited five years to lodge an FIR despite being in possession of a detailed forensic audit report since 2020.

“Despite being in possession of the 2020 Forensic Audit Report, based on which the complaint was filed which contains detailed issues regarding diversion, evergreening, fictitious transactions, and use of shell entities, the bank chose to take no statutory action until August 2025, a delay that cannot be explained without examining whether officers acted in collusion or with deliberate intent to shield the borrower group,” the plea stated.

“The five-year delay in filing the FIR by the bank clearly indicates involvement of bank officials and other public servants whose conduct enabled, concealed, or facilitated the fraud,” it added.

The petition, relying on multiple materials, including, SBI and RBI forensic audits, the Grant Thornton CIRP report, technical analyses, news investigations, and the Cobrapost report, argued that the ADA Group engaged in a “sustained, organised and coordinated scheme” to siphon public money.

“These reports uniformly demonstrate diversion of funds, round-tripping, misuse of external borrowings, fabrication of accounting entries, and operation of shell entities,” the plea alleged.

It further stated that suspected shell companies such as Netizen Engineering Pvt Ltd and Kunj Bihari Developers Pvt Ltd “were found to be non-existent at their registered addresses”, demonstrating a deliberate corporate structure created to siphon and launder public funds.

Despite searches at over 35 locations and alleged frauds aggregating to more than Rs. 20,000 crore, the PIL stated that “no arrests have been made, no assets have been seized, and no accounts have been frozen.”

“This indicates difficulty on part of the investigating agencies and necessitates judicial supervision,” the plea contended, adding that a fraud of such magnitude “involving public money and public institutions cannot be investigated in a piecemeal manner.”

The PIL also sought the constitution of an expert committee under the supervision of the Supreme Court to recommend structural reforms in banking and regulatory oversight.

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