ED arrests Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal in fake bank guarantee and invoicing case

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Reliance Power Limited (RPL), in connection with a case involving a fake bank guarantee and forged invoicing, allegedly linked to fund diversion.

According to officials, Pal was taken into custody late on Friday night after several hours of questioning at the agency’s Delhi office. According to sources, Pal, as the CFO of Reliance Power — a publicly listed company in which the public holds more than 75 per cent of the shares — allegedly played a “crucial role” in the diversion of company funds and the submission of forged financial documents.

The investigation pertains to a fraudulent Bank Guarantee (BG) of over Rs 68 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tender. Officials said Pal was empowered by a board resolution to finalise, approve, and execute documents on behalf of RPL for the SECI bid. In this capacity, he allegedly conspired to submit a fake bank guarantee with the intention of cheating the PSU.

The ED’s probe revealed that the bogus guarantee was issued in the name of “FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines — a location where the bank has no operational branch.” “The guarantee was arranged through Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd (BTPL), a small entity operating from a residential address with no credible record in providing such guarantees. BTPL director Partha Sarathi Biswal, already in judicial custody, is alleged to have assisted in executing the forged document,” said the officials.

Investigators further alleged that Pal approved fake transport invoices worth several crores to facilitate the diversion of funds. He reportedly cleared payments and managed paperwork through Telegram and WhatsApp — bypassing Reliance Power’s official SAP and vendor master systems.

The ED also alleged that Pal used the services of a fake bank guarantee racket operating through spoofed email domains resembling those of major Indian banks, such as “s-bi.co.in” instead of the genuine “sbi.co.in”. Similar lookalike domains were used to impersonate other banks, including Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Punjab National Bank.

Officials alleged Pal’s actions form part of a broader criminal conspiracy involving forged instruments and fraudulent communication channels aimed at deceiving public institutions and misappropriating funds from a listed company. (ANI)