The Economic Crimes Wing of the Delhi Police arrested the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Reliance Power Limited and two associates for allegedly submitting forged bank guarantees worth Rs 136.40 crore to a government agency to secure a tender, in a fraud involving fake documents from foreign banks and fabricated confirmations falsely attributed to the State Bank of India.
The three arrested are Ashok Kumar Pal, 50, chief financial officer of Reliance Power Ltd and a qualified chartered accountant who has been with the Reliance ADAG group since 2018;
Partha Sarthi Biswal, 54, managing director of Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd, who allegedly acted as a middleman to arrange the forged collateral; and Amarnath Dutta, 50, a resident of Kolkata, who worked as a broker in the deal.
The three were arrested on April 15 and will remain in police custody until April 23.
The case was registered following a complaint by Biblesh Meena, manager of the Solar Energy Corporation of India, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. According to the FIR, Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power Limited, submitted two bank guarantees of Rs 68.20 crore each during a bidding process with SECI.
The guarantees were allegedly issued by two foreign banks: ACE Investment Bank, Malaysia, and FirstRand Bank Ltd, Manila, Philippines. To make the documents appear legitimate, the accused allegedly supported them with fake emails and fabricated Structured Financial Messaging System confirmations that appeared to come from the State Bank of India. When the SBI was contacted for verification, the bank denied having issued any such confirmations.
The investigation by the EOW revealed that Pal, in his capacity as CFO of Reliance Power, conspired with Biswal, Dutta and others to arrange forged bank guarantees from foreign banks. According to investigators, senior officials paid large sums of money for the creation of falsified documents and endorsements.
The case has been registered under Sections 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2) and 61(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act at EOW Police Station, New Delhi vide FIR No. 79/25 dated June 24, 2025.
Among the accused, Biswal is described as a businessman who runs a trading company based in Odisha and was used as a channel through which the forged guarantees were obtained. Dutta, who has a BCA degree and a diploma in import and export, acted as an intermediary to facilitate the deal.
