The arrests were conducted by the EOW team, led by Inspector Laxman Kumar and Sub-Inspector Ghanshyam under the supervision of DCP Goswami, after tracking the financial and communication trail allegedly linking the accused.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has arrested the chief financial officer of Reliance Power Limited, along with two others, for their alleged involvement in a high-value bank guarantee fraud linked to a government tender.
The accused — identified as Ashok Kumar Pal (50), the CFO of Reliance Power Ltd, Partha Sarathi Biswal (54), managing director of Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd, and Kolkata-based Amarnath Dutta (50) — were arrested on April 15 in connection with a case registered at the EOW police station, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Subodh Kumar Goswami. He added that they have been sent to police custody till April 23.
As per a statement issued by the EOW, the case pertains to a complaint filed by Biblesh Meena, a manager at Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The complainant alleged that Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power Ltd, submitted two forged bank guarantees worth Rs 68.2 crore each to secure a renewable energy tender floated by the SECI.
“The guarantees were purportedly issued by foreign lenders — ACE Investment Bank, Malaysia, and FirstRand Bank Ltd, Manila — and were backed by what appeared to be confirmations routed through the Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) of the State Bank of India,” the DCP claimed.
However, investigators claimed that these confirmations — including emails and SFMS messages authenticating the said guarantees — were allegedly forged, and the SBI later denied issuing any such endorsements.
The police claimed that during the investigation, it was found that senior functionaries of RPL, in conspiracy with intermediaries, allegedly arranged forged bank guarantees from purported foreign banks and used fabricated confirmations in the name of SBI to secure the tender from SECI.
Police claimed the probe has revealed an alleged criminal conspiracy involving senior RPL officials and intermediaries, with large sums of money allegedly exchanged to arrange the fake documents.
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The arrests were conducted by the EOW team, led by Inspector Laxman Kumar and Sub-Inspector Ghanshyam under the supervision of DCP Goswami, after tracking the financial and communication trail allegedly linking the accused. The police said that further probe is on to identify others who might be involved in the alleged nexus.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
