SC defers ADAG fraud hearing to May 8

The Supreme Court of India deferred to May 8 the PIL hearing on alleged ₹73,000 crore fraud linked to Anil Ambani’s ADAG, seeking transparent probes by Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate amid fresh status reports

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred to May 8 the hearing on a PIL alleging large-scale banking fraud involving the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and its firms. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing the PIL filed by former bureaucrat E A S Sarma seeking a court-monitored investigation into alleged loan frauds exceeding Rs 40,000 crore by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) firms led by Anil Ambani.

At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, said the two central probe agencies have filed fresh status reports in pursuance of directions issued on March 23 in the case.

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“The CBI and the ED have filed status reports. The kingpin has not been arrested. Anil Ambani was identified as the kingpin. But nothing has been done yet,” lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the PIL petitioner, said.

“I cannot respond as to why ‘X’ or ‘Y’ is not arrested. We have filed our status reports,” the solicitor general said. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Anil Ambani, urged the bench to accord him a hearing for half-an-hour as he has something to say which has not been apprised to any court so far.

“Before taking cognisance of (status) reports, we will also hear you,” the CJI said, adding that the court ordered a probe to ensure transparency and impartiality in the ongoing investigations. Earlier, the bench expressed displeasure over the “reluctance” shown by the CBI and the ED in probing the alleged large-scale banking fraud involving ADAG and its firms.

It had directed the CBI and the ED to conduct a “fair, dispassionate, transparent, and time-bound” investigation into the matter. The bench also directed all financial institutions concerned to “render full cooperation to the ED”.

It also permitted the central probe agencies to approach it in case there is any reluctance on the part of other government bodies in extending cooperation to them. Mehta informed the bench that an SIT, in pursuance of an earlier order, had been constituted comprising senior ED officers and financial experts from the banking sector. He said the probe agencies, so far, attached assets worth Rs 15,000 crore and also arrested four persons, including a few senior officials.

The bench referred to certain facts disclosed in the fresh status reports of the probe agencies and said the CBI and the ED are presently probing seven and eight FIRs, respectively. It also said that a loan amount of more than Rs 3,000 crore has been apparently settled by paying Rs 26 crore.

The bench said it is estimated that the total fraud amount is around Rs 73,000 crore. “The investigating agencies must join hands and find out the issue. We impress upon the CBI and the ED that the probe be completed most dispassionately and independently so that it is taken to a logical conclusion in a time-bound manner.

“The solicitor general assured that no stone shall be left unturned to unearth the truth. The solicitor general has pointed to the second status report by the ED, where details have been sought from financial institutions. We allow the prayer in its entirety,” the bench ordered.

Ambani had assured the top court that he would not leave the country without its prior nod after the petitioner apprehended that he may flee. The ED has alleged defaults of Rs 7,500 crore in Reliance Home Finance and Rs 8,200 crore in Reliance Commercial Finance, citing “large-scale diversion of public funds”.

On Reliance Power, the ED’s report, which has been recorded by the bench, said the agency is investigating the submission of forged bank guarantees to the Solar Energy Corporation of India, which caused a loss of more than Rs 105 crore.

On January 23, the top court had asked the CBI and the ED to file status reports in a sealed cover within 10 days on their ongoing investigations into alleged massive banking and corporate fraud. The FIR was registered in 2025, though the fraud had been going on since 2007-08, the lawyer alleged.

The PIL alleged systematic diversion of public funds, fabrication of financial statements and institutional complicity across multiple entities of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG. It said the FIR registered by the CBI, along with the connected ED proceedings, addresses merely a small segment of the alleged fraud.

It also sought a direction to the respondents for the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) comprising officers from the CBI and the ED to conduct a thorough, impartial and time-bound investigation. It said between 2013 and 2017, RCOM, Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom borrowed Rs 31,580 crore from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India.