Ex-Reliance Communications MD Jhunjhunwala Lodged in Arthur Road Jail

Mumbai: Former Reliance Communications Group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, arrested by the CBI in a multi-crore bank loan fraud case, has been lodged in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail, officials said on Tuesday. A Mumbai court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to arrest Jhunjhunwala, who was in judicial custody in New Delhi in a related money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Considering the late hour and the accused's travel from Delhi's Tihar Jail, the court remanded him to judicial custody, with a plea for his police custody scheduled for later in the day, officials said.

Jhunjhunwala, group managing director of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications Group, looked after important functions such as corporate finance, banking and utilisation of funds.

The CBI has claimed that based on his directions, loan funds received from banks were managed/utilised by other officials of the RCom group. Due to misutilisation of loan funds, the banks suffered wrongful losses, said the probe agency.

Last week, the probe agency filed a chargesheet in the case against 16 individuals/entities. Jhunjhunwala has not been named in the chargesheet filed in the special court, but the investigation against him was ongoing.

The accused named in the chargesheet included Reliance Communications, five senior executives of the company and 10 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 CBI said in a press release.

The chargesheet pertained to alleged misuse of a Rs 1,200 crore term loan sanctioned by the SBI, Rs 500 crore letter of credit facilities sanctioned by Bank of Maharashtra and Rs 350 crore letter of credit facilities sanctioned by Syndicate Bank, it said.