Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from the Central Government, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and businessman Anil Ambani on a petition seeking a court-monitored investigation into banking frauds involving Reliance Communications (RCom), group companies and Anil Ambani. This petition was filed by EAS Sarma, former Secretary to the Government of India, alleging systematic misuse of funds, manipulation of accounts and institutional collusion. A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran issued notice to the Central Government, CBI, ED and Ambani asking them to file their reply within three weeks.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Sarma, argued that this could possibly be the biggest corporate scam in the history of India. He said that this probably pertains to the biggest corporate fraud in the history of India. FIR will be lodged only in 2025, this fraud has been going on since 2007-08. The bench asked why you did not give a copy of the petition to the respondents? Bhushan replied that we need status report from CBI and ED. After this the court issued a formal notice to the defendants.
claim check
Sarma’s plea said that the FIR registered by the CBI on August 21, 2025 and the related ED proceedings cover only a small part of the alleged irregularities. It claims that despite forensic audits and independent reports indicating widespread fraud, the agencies have not investigated the role of bank officials and regulators. The petitioner also cited a decision of the Bombay High Court, which had already noted findings of systematic misappropriation of funds.
What kind of fraud happened?
RCom and its subsidiaries Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom reportedly received loans worth Rs 31,580 crore from a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) between 2013 and 2017. A forensic audit conducted by SBI has revealed large-scale fraud. The audit has also flagged transactions from bank accounts allegedly declared closed, raising suspicions of manipulation of financial statements.
This is how the manipulation happened
The plea alleged that shell entities like Netizen Engineering and Kunj Bihari Developers were used for misappropriation and money laundering, and that a fake preference-share structure was used to write off liabilities, allegedly resulting in a loss of over Rs 1,800 crore. It claims that these materials reflect a deliberate, sustained effort to conceal losses and misuse of public funds.
Demand for investigation by officials
A major complaint was that SBI delayed by almost five years in taking action on the forensic audit submitted in October 2020. SBI filed the complaint only in August 2025, and the petitioner alleged that the delay amounted to “institutional collusion”. It was argued that since officials of nationalized banks are considered public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, their conduct should be investigated.