CBI books Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications for Rs 2,000-crore bank fraud, conducts searches at his residence

New Delhi: The CBI has filed a case against Reliance Communications and its promoter director Anil Ambani, for an alleged bank fraud that caused a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore to State Bank of India, officials said on Saturday.

The agency is carrying out searches at the residence of Anil Ambani and premises linked to RCOM in connection with the case, they said.

The CBI took the action based on a complaint from the lender State Bank of India, which had approached the agency after the entities were classified as fraud on June 13, in accordance with the RBI's Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management and the Bank's Board-approved Policy on Classification, Reporting & Management of Frauds.

"On June 24, 2025, the bank reported classification of fraud to RBI, and is also in the process of lodging complaint with CBI," Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha last month.

The credit exposure of SBI in RCom includes, fund-based principal outstanding amount of Rs 2,227.64 crore along with the accrued interest and expenses with effect from August 26, 2016, and a non-fund-based Bank Guarantee of Rs 786.52 crore, he had said.

RCom is undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

The resolution plan was approved by the Committee of Creditors and filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, on March 6, 2020.

The NCLT approval is awaited.

The bank has also initiated a Personal Insolvency Resolution Process under IBC against Anil D Ambani, and it is being heard by NCLT, Mumbai, he had said.

The SBI had classified the account and promoter Anil D Ambani as 'fraud' on November 10, 2020 and filed a complaint with the CBI on January 5, 2021.

However, the minister said, the complaint was returned in view of the 'status quo' order dated January 6, 2021, by the Delhi High Court.

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court judgement dated March 27, 2023, in State Bank of India & Others Vs Rajesh Agarwal & Others case mandated that lenders provide borrowers with an opportunity to represent before classifying their accounts as fraud.

Accordingly, the minister said, the fraud classification in the account was reversed by the bank on September 2, 2023.

The fraud classification process was re-run, and the account was again classified as 'fraud' after following the due process as per the RBI circular dated July 15, 2024.