A Mumbai court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to formally arrest Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, a former senior executive of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, in a case related to alleged misuse of bank loans.
Jhunjhunwala was produced before special CBI judge J.P. Darekar on a production warrant from New Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail, where he was under judicial custody in a related money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
CBI Seeks Formal Arrest
Following his production before the court, the CBI, represented by Special Public Prosecutor A Limosin, filed an application seeking remand and permission to formally arrest the accused.
Advocates Reeti Upadhyay and Mudit Jain, appearing for Jhunjhunwala, argued that under the production warrant issued by a Delhi court, the former executive of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group was required to be produced before the court on June 5. The defence contended that his appearance before the court prior to that date was illegal.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the Mumbai court allowed the CBI’s application to formally arrest Jhunjhunwala as per provisions of law.
FCRF’s Flagship Cyber Law Certification Returns With a New Four-Week Cohort
Court Notes Late-Hour Proceedings
As the proceedings continued beyond working hours, the CBI informed the court that it would produce the accused before it on Tuesday after completing the arrest formalities.
Considering the late hour and the accused’s travel distance from Delhi, the court remanded Jhunjhunwala to judicial custody in the meantime.
Jhunjhunwala, group Managing Director of the Reliance Communications group, was looking after important functions including corporate finance, banking and utilisation of funds.
Probe Linked To Alleged Loan Misuse
The CBI has claimed that, based on his directions, loan funds received from banks were managed and utilised by other officials of the RCom group. The agency said banks suffered wrongful losses due to alleged misutilisation of loan funds.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case on Friday against 16 individuals and entities. Jhunjhunwala has not been named in the chargesheet filed in the special court, but the investigation against him is ongoing.
The accused named in the chargesheet include Reliance Communications, five senior executives of the company and ten bank officials. They were charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misappropriation under the IPC, and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The chargesheet pertains to alleged misuse of a Rs 1,200 crore term loan sanctioned by the State Bank of India, Rs 500 crore letter of credit facilities sanctioned by Bank of Maharashtra and Rs 350 crore letter of credit facilities sanctioned by Syndicate Bank.
The central agency registered the case on SBI’s complaint against Reliance Communications and Anil Ambani for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 2,929.05 crore to the bank. According to the FIR, rupee term loans were sanctioned to Reliance Communications by a consortium of 11 banks led by SBI, with the total exposure amounting to Rs 19,694.33 crore and involving 17 state-run banks.
