ED action on Reliance official, influencer part of ramped-up probe into Rs 20,000-crore loan scam

Indian Express

18 hours ago

The searches on Angarai Sethuraman, a key official of the Anil Ambani group, and the arrest of Chandigarh-based influencer Sandeepa Virk come at a time when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is switching to the second phase of its probe into what they now describe as a Rs 20,000 crore loan scam, The Indian Express has learnt.
The agency has alleged that Sethuraman and Virk were together trying to 'influence' their probe into the Anil Ambani group in relation to the alleged scam. The ED had, in a statement Wednesday, alleged that Sethuraman had 'siphoned off' Rs 18 crore in loan he took from Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) and that he had been in contact with Virk for 'illegal liaising work'.
Sethuraman, Group President (Corporate Affairs), Reliance Group, told The Indian Express that his residence was searched for over 30 hours the past two days and that the allegations were 'baseless'.
He emphasised: 'I did meet Sandeepa Virk twice this month but that was for different reasons and at public places. It had nothing to do with the ED's probe. As far as the Rs 18 crore loan from RCFL is concerned, it was for building the house in Delhi where I now live. It is a fully secured loan and has been part paid back by me. It has not been siphoned off.' Sethuraman is also director of six companies, including Thales Reliance Defence Systems Ltd.
Days after questioning Anil Ambani at the ED headquarters in New Delhi on August 5, top officials said the 'very complex' nature of transactions involved would take months to analyse. Following scrutiny of the alleged loan scam documents, the officials said, they will turn their attention to the defence companies and offshore entities set up by the Group Chairman.
The sleuths pointed out that they have found the 'loan exposure'' of two Reliance companies — RCFL and Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) — to be allegedly too high. A key official said, 'Prima facie, it appears that the loan amounts taken from the 39 lenders (banks and financial institutions) were routed to Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power, and that is how these companies were made debt free. But this was done via a complex money trail and through layers and layers of transactions.'
Also under investigation is the reason why none of the 39 lenders, except for Yes Bank, filed police complaints against the Anil Ambani company. During his questioning, Anil Ambani is understood to have allegedly clarified that important decisions on loans given by RCFL and RFHL were taken by his employees and members of the credit committees of the two companies. It is learnt that he was then allegedly confronted with internal company decisions that may have been taken by senior officials but were signed off by him as chairman.
The agency was now planning to call members of the credit committees for questioning and put Anil Ambani through another round of questioning.
The Indian Express sent a set of questions on the allegations of a Rs 20,000 crore loan scam to the Anil Ambani group's corporate office but received only Sethuraman's statement released to the media Wednesday. In that statement, Sethuraman had denied any connection or involvement with Virk or any transactions related to her, and that the home loan he took was granted following due process.
Virk, meanwhile, was arrested on August 12 under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 and produced before a court which granted custody to ED till August 14 for further investigation. According to the agency, Virk and her associates are alleged to have 'exerted undue influence through misrepresentation and defrauded individuals by soliciting money under false pretences'.
'Probe conducted by the ED has revealed that Virk has acquired immovable property in her name by making false promises and cheating,' the ED spokesperson alleged in a statement. The agency also said that Virk claimed to 'the owner of hyboocare.com, a website purportedly selling FDA-approved beauty products'. However, the ED claimed, the 'products listed on the site have been found to be non-existent' and that 'the website serves as a front for laundering funds'.
It claimed that Virk was 'in regular touch with' Sethuraman 'with whom she had been communicating regarding illegal liaising work'.
In Punjab, Virk has been linked to an FIR filed at the Phase-8 police station in Mohali in November 2016 against a man identified as Amit Gupta, alias Nageshwar Gupta, accusing him of fraud amounting to Rs 6 crore committed under the pretext of investment in a film production company.
Following the FIR, based on a complaint from Chandigarh resident Jasneet Kaur, Gupta was arrested in 2017 and a charge sheet was filed against him. During trial, he was declared a Proclaimed Offender under Section 299 CrPC on October 21, 2024.
According to police records, Virk's name was mentioned in the initial complaint as an associate of Gupta but she was not listed as an accused in the case. The Mohali police is now ascertaining the status of court proceedings in the original FIR following the ED's action against Virk. – With ENS, New Delhi