Mumbai — The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed its first charge sheet in the Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd. case against seven accused, including two Reliance Group companies, for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 4,097 crore to public sector banks.
The charge sheet was filed Tuesday before the special judge for CBI cases, the agency said in a statement.
The accused include Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., Reliance Home Finance Ltd. and five former senior executives of RCFL: Devang Pravin Mody, former director and CEO; Ravindra Somayajula Rao, former director; Dhananjay Bhagwanprasad Tiwari, former director; Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, former executive risk officer; and Lav Chaturvedi, former chief risk officer.
The agency has accused them of criminal conspiracy and cheating with intent to cause major losses to public sector banks.
According to the CBI, its investigation found that funds borrowed by RCFL were allegedly diverted through intermediary and conduit entities to various Reliance ADA Group companies in violation of the terms and conditions governing the borrowings. The agency said the diversion caused wrongful losses to lending banks and wrongful gains to the accused and related entities.
The CBI registered the case based on complaints from Bank of Maharashtra and other public sector banks in the lending consortium. The agency said 13 public sector banks suffered a total loss of Rs 4,097 crore.
The CBI said further investigation remains open to determine the role of other directors, entities and public servants allegedly involved in causing losses to the banks. Supplementary charge sheets are expected to be filed later.
The agency has so far arrested three people in the case: Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, former vice chairman of Reliance Capital Ltd.; Mody, former CEO of RCFL; and Amit Bapna, former chief financial officer of Reliance Capital Ltd. Jhunjhunwala and Mody are in judicial custody, while Bapna is in CBI custody.
The CBI has registered seven FIRs against Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Home Finance Ltd., Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd. and Reliance Telecom Ltd. based on complaints from various public sector banks and LIC.
The agency earlier filed its first charge sheet in the Reliance Communications case on May 29 against 16 accused. The latest charge sheet is the second filed in the Reliance ADA Group cases.
The cases remain under investigation and are being monitored by the Supreme Court, the agency said. (Source: IANS)
