New Delhi, March 19 (UNI) Industrialist Anil D Ambani on Thursday joined the investigation by the CBI in connection with a Rs 2,929.05 crore bank loan fraud case and was grilled for about eight hours by the agency.
A senior CBI official said Ambani was summoned to have his statement recorded. An elite team of the CBI recorded his statement at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi.
“Ambani appeared before the Investigating Officer today and was interrogated for about eight hours. For further questioning, the accused has been directed to appear before the Investigating Officer tomorrow as well,” the official said.
Friday will mark his second round of questioning.
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the industrialist stated that “Anil Ambani will be appearing before the Central Bureau of Investigation… in connection with the First Information Report registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the State Bank of India regarding Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM). The appearance is in furtherance to Ambani’s commitment to extend full cooperation in the matter with all agencies.”
The CBI has alleged that funds meant for business operations were diverted, with irregularities flagged in how the loans were utilised. The CBI is examining financial transactions, internal approvals as well as the end-use of funds as part of its investigation.
The SBI had complained about suspected financial irregularities after RCOM defaulted on large loans. RCOM had accumulated massive debt before entering insolvency proceedings, leaving lenders with significant exposure.
A criminal case was registered on August 21, 2025, against Reliance Communications Limited, Anil D. Ambani, and others, including unknown public servants, based on the complaint lodged by the State Bank of India (SBI), the lead bank in a consortium of 11 banks.
The complaint was based on a forensic audit report that alleged large-scale diversion and misutilisation of loan funds through interlinked and circuitous transactions among group entities during the period 2013–17, resulting in a wrongful loss of ₹2,929.05 crore to SBI out of a total exposure of ₹19,694.33 crore involving 17 public sector banks.
Subsequent to the registration of the case, separate complaints were also received from Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, union Bank of India, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank, and Bank of Maharashtra.
In August 2025, the CBI obtained search warrants from a Special Judge for CBI in Mumbai and conducted searches at two official premises of Reliance Communications Limited, as well as at the residential premises of Anil D. Ambani. Several incriminating documents were seized during the searches.
Further, another case was registered against Reliance Communications Limited, Anil D. Ambani, and others, including unknown public servants, on February 25, 2026, based on a fresh complaint dated February 24, 2026, from Bank of Baroda, which includes exposure of erstwhile Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank.
Additionally, a third case was registered on March 5, 2026, against Reliance Communications Limited, its directors Anil D. Ambani, Manjari Ashok Kacker, and others, including unknown public servants. This case is based on a complaint dated February 2, 2026, from Punjab National Bank, which includes exposure of erstwhile United Bank of India.
Anil Ambani also faces an Enforcement Directorate probe into alleged financial irregularities within his Reliance Group. In February, the ED seized the tycoon’s 17-storey luxury apartment in Mumbai as part of its investigation.
On March 13, the ED had stated in an attachment order that it has provisionally attached 31 immovable properties worth Rs 581.65 crore in connection with the investigation into Anil Ambani’s Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL).
The ED action on March 13 came after raids were conducted in a separate case related to Reliance Power Ltd under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) on March 6.
According to the ED statement, the attached properties mainly consist of land parcels located across several states including Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The ED had stated that earlier it had attached properties worth over Rs 15,729 crore in bank fraud cases linked to RCFL, RHFL and Reliance Communications. The cumulative attachment in cases related to the Reliance Anil Ambani Group has reached up to Rs 16,310 crore, after the latest action.
After searches under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and FEMA, assets worth Rs 2.48 crore in the form of fixed deposits, mutual funds and cash were frozen or confiscated. The ED has also seized balances amounting to Rs 77.86 crore in 13 bank accounts of Reliance Infrastructure Limited under Section 37A of FEMA, according to its statement.
It may be recalled that RHFL and RCFL had raised public funds from several banks and financial institutions, of which more than Rs 11,000 crore eventually turned into non-performing assets, according to the ED statement.
The ED’s probe into the Anil Ambani led Reliance group began in July 2025 on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation under criminal conspiracy and cheating provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
