New Delhi [India], May 16 : The Rouse Avenue Court on Saturday extended the judicial custody of Amitabh Jhunjhunwala (former Group Managing Director of Reliance ADA Group and ex-Vice Chairman of Reliance Capital) and Amit Bapna (former CFO of Reliance Capital) until May 29.
Special Judge Hasan Anzar extended their custody in connection with a multi-crore money laundering case tied to alleged bank loan fraud at Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL).
The court scheduled the next hearing for May 18 to address two applications: one seeking permission to meet the inmates, and another requesting complete medical documents for Jhunjhunwala, who appeared via video conferencing due to a fracture.
Jhunjhunwala and Bapna were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on April 15. Following intensive overnight interrogation, they were remanded to judicial custody on April 20.
Earlier, Advocate Faisal Sherwani, along with Shikher Deep Aggarwal, appeared for Amit Bapna and opposed the further judicial custody, saying that the further judicial custody is being sought on a mechanical ground.
While the defence argued that further custody was being sought on purely "mechanical grounds," the ED maintained that extending custody is critical to unveiling a complex web of transactions, identifying other beneficiaries, and tracing an estimated money trail of ₹11,500 crores.
According to the ED, between 2015 and 2020, the accused orchestrated a pre-conceived scheme to siphon off public money from RHFL and RCFL.
Funds were funnelled under the guise of "Corporate Loans" into a network of 45 paper companies operated by an associate named Pradeep. These entities had no active business operations, weak financials, and negative cash flows.
The directors of these shell companies were employees or associates of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group, and the entities were entirely controlled by the group.
Loans were disbursed in blatant violation of Prudential Lending Norms. Credit appraisal memos revealed that no field visits or financial capacity analyses were conducted. Loan approvals bypassed formal credit committee meetings, with signatures procured retroactively.
The ED's investigation mapped out the specific financial violations across both subsidiaries, Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL)
RHFL received (2015-2020): ₹35,368.97 crores. In FY 2018-19, 80% of RHFL's disbursements were for non-housing purposes. Approximately 90% of its corporate loans went directly to the group's shell companies (across 98 accounts).
The duo allegedly bypassed regulatory caps (RBI/NHB guidelines stating an NBFC can lend a maximum of 25% of its net worth to group companies and 15% to a single entity) to avoid enhanced audit scrutiny.
RHFL defaulted on ₹7,523.46 crores. Following an Inter-Creditor Agreement in 2019, lenders recovered only ₹2,116.28 crores, leaving ₹5,407.18 crores classified as proceeds of crime.
While RCFL raised: ₹113,424 crores. Top management allegedly mandated the disbursement of ₹7,408.70 crores (representing 82.96% of total disbursements) to 36 shell companies via 78 different loans. Loans above ₹5 crores were pushed through without the required RCFL Credit Committee approvals.
RCFL defaulted on its obligations and was later acquired by Authum Investment and Infrastructure Ltd. Out of the total defaults, lenders recovered ₹1,947.99 crores, leaving an uncovered balance of ₹6,280.47 crores as proceeds of crime.
Amitabh Jhunjhunwala was Director (2003-2019) and Vice Chairman (2006-2019) of the parent company, Reliance Capital Ltd (RCAP). The ED claimed electronic evidence (emails) and statements from RHFL's CEO prove Jhunjhunwala exercised full administrative and financial control over both subsidiaries. He was the key decision-maker behind the fund diversions to the paper entities.
While Amit Bapna was the key managerial Person, serving as CFO and COO of the Reliance Capital Group until his resignation in August 2020. Bapna allegedly issued direct instructions to the CEOs and Chief Risk Officers (CROs) of RHFL and RCFL to sanction the fraudulent corporate loans.
Following the registration of FIRs in January 2025, Bapna left his subsequent employment in India and is currently employed in Jakarta, Indonesia.