Court extends custody of Ashok Kumar Pal by 3 days in Reliance Energy fake bank guarantee case

New Delhi [India], October 13 (ANI): Delhi's Patiala House Court on Monday extended the ED custody of Ashok Kumar Pal arrested in Reliance Energy fake bank guarantee case. He has been arrested in a money laundering case.
Ashok Kumar Pal is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director of Reliance Industries. The special judge Kiran Gupta extended the custody of Ashok Kumar Pal till October 16. He was produced after two days of ED custody.
The court has kept pending the application challenging the arrest of Pal. The court is to hear the application on October 16.
During arguments, special counsel Zoheb Hossain, Special public prosecutors (SPPs) Naveen Kumar Matta and Simon Benjamin, alongwith Mohd. Faizan appeared for ED.

Advocate Vijay Agarwal appeared for Ashok Kumar Pal and opposed the extension of custody by teaming the arrest of Pal as illegal. During the hearing, an application has been filed by advocate Vijay Agarwal, Counsel for the accused sought directions declaring the arrest of the accused/applicant as illegal.
It was submitted by Defence Counsel that the ED had arrested the present accused without obtaining prior permission of the court in terms of the settled law, even after filing of the complaint before the present court.
On Saturday, the court granted 2 days' custody of Ashok Kumar Pal to the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court had directed the ED to interrogate the accused at a place where CCTV cameras are installed.
The arrestee shall also be permitted to meet his advocate for half an hour daily between 06:00 pm to 07:00 pm during the said period of ED custody in a manner that the ED officials are not able to hear their conversations.
The Enforcement Directorate is also directed to provide the necessary medicines, if any. to the arrestee, as per his medical prescriptions.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Reliance Power Limited (RPL), in connection with a fake bank guarantee and forged invoicing case linked to alleged fund diversion.
Officials said Pal was taken into custody late on Friday night after several hours of questioning at the agency's Delhi office.
According to sources, Pal, as the CFO of Reliance Power--a publicly listed company in which more than 75 per cent shares are held by the public--played a "crucial role" in the diversion of company funds and submission of forged financial documents.
The investigation pertains to a fraudulent Bank Guarantee (BG) of over Rs 68 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tender.
Officials said Pal was empowered by a board resolution to finalize, approve, and execute documents on behalf of RPL for the SECI bid. In this capacity, he allegedly conspired to submit a fake bank guarantee with the intent to cheat the PSU.
The ED's probe revealed that the bogus guarantee was issued in the name of "FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines -- a location where the bank has no operational branch."
"The guarantee was arranged through Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd (BTPL), a small entity operating from a residential address with no credible record in providing such guarantees. BTPL director Partha Sarathi Biswal, already in judicial custody, is alleged to have assisted in executing the forged document," said the officials.
Investigators further alleged that Pal approved fake transport invoices worth several crores to facilitate fund diversion. He reportedly cleared payments and managed paperwork through Telegram and WhatsApp -- bypassing Reliance Power's official SAP and vendor master systems.
The ED also found that Pal used the services of a fake bank guarantee racket operating through spoofed email domains resembling those of major Indian banks, such as "s-bi.co.in" instead of the genuine "sbi.co.in". Similar lookalike domains were used to impersonate other banks, including Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Punjab National Bank.
Officials said Pal's actions form part of a broader criminal conspiracy involving forged instruments and fraudulent communication channels aimed at deceiving public institutions and misappropriating funds from a listed company. (ANI)