NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has apprehended two senior executives of Reliance Communications (RCOM) amid an ongoing examination into allegations of financial misconduct. D Vishwanath, joint president, and Anil Kalya, vice president, were detained following claims of fund misutilization that reportedly resulted in significant losses for public sector lenders.
The case was initiated based on a formal complaint filed by the State Bank of India (SBI). The allegations focus on credit facilities granted, with SBI indicating a direct wrongful loss of ₹2,929 crore. The registered First Information Report (FIR) indicates that a consortium of 17 public sector banks and financial institutions may have incurred a total wrongful loss of ₹19,694.3 crore.
In light of these developments, Reliance Group, the parent company that previously managed Reliance Communications following its demerger from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has sought to distance itself from RCOM and Anil Ambani. The group clarified, “Reliance Communications is no longer part of the Reliance Group, as the company has been undergoing Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) since 2019 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, and has remained in the resolution process for nearly seven years, with proceedings still pending.”
The organization stated that Ambani was not involved in the day-to-day operations of RCOM. The investigation has uncovered that Reliance Communications allegedly conducted complex transactions through a network of shell entities overseen by company officials.
