CBI Raids Anil Ambani In ₹2,900-crore Bank Fraud Case
The agency is conducting searches at the premises linked to RCOM and its Promoter Director Anil Ambani
By : Deccan Chronicle
Update: 2025-08-23 06:30 GMT
New Delhi: Days after the Enforcement Directorate questioned businessman Anil Ambani in a money laundering case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday carried out searches at premises in Mumbai linked to the industrialist in connection with an alleged bank fraud worth over ₹2,900 crore.
The CBI has registered a fresh 20-page FIR, naming Anil D. Ambani, his company M/s Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), unknown public servants, and others as accused. The FIR was lodged in Delhi following a complaint by the State Bank of India (SBI).
According to the complaint, SBI alleged fraud of ₹2,929.05 crore by Reliance Communications. The bank had earlier classified the account and promoters, including Anil D. Ambani, as “fraud” and filed a complaint with the CBI on August 18, 2025.
In a written reply in Parliament last month, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary had stated, “On June 24, 2025, the bank reported classification of fraud to the RBI and is in the process of lodging a complaint with the CBI.”
SBI’s credit exposure to RCom includes a fund-based principal outstanding of ₹2,227.64 crore along with accrued interest and expenses (as of August 26, 2016), and a non-fund-based bank guarantee of ₹786.52 crore, according to official details.
RCom is currently undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The resolution plan, approved by the Committee of Creditors, was filed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai on March 6, 2020, but approval is still pending. The bank has also initiated a Personal Insolvency Resolution Process under IBC against Anil D. Ambani, which is being heard by NCLT, Mumbai.
The SBI had first classified RCom’s account and Anil D. Ambani as “fraud” on November 10, 2020, and filed a complaint with the CBI on January 5, 2021. However, the complaint was returned due to a status quo order issued by the Delhi High Court on January 6, 2021.
Later, a Supreme Court judgment dated March 27, 2023 (State Bank of India & Others vs. Rajesh Agarwal & Others) mandated that lenders must provide borrowers an opportunity to represent their case before classifying accounts as fraud. Following this, SBI reversed the fraud classification on September 2, 2023.
The classification process was subsequently re-run, and the account was once again declared “fraud” in compliance with the RBI’s revised guidelines dated July 15, 2024.