The directorate of enforcement (ED) has arrested Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, a former senior executive of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group (ADAG), in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation linked to an alleged banking fraud involving group entities such as Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL).
Mr Jhunjhunwala was taken into custody under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following extensive questioning. He was produced before a special court in Mumbai, where the agency sought his custodial remand for further interrogation.
In a parallel development, ED also arrested Amit Bapna, a former chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO) of Reliance Capital Ltd, who served in the role between 2008 and 2020. Both individuals are considered close associates of industrialist Anil Ambani.
The Court has remanded both Mr Jhunjhunwala and Mr Bapna to five days of ED custody, against the agency’s request for seven days.
In
a regulatory filing, Reliance ADA group clarified that both Mr Jhunjhunwala and Mr Bapna have had no association with the group for the past seven years. It says, "Based on the media queries, Reliance Group clarifies that Amitabh Jhunjhunwala left the Group in September 2019, nearly seven years ago. He had no association with the Group thereafter, including Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd. Amit Bapna left the Reliance group in December 2019. He had no association with the Group thereafter, including Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power."
According to investigators, Mr Jhunjhunwala played a crucial role in the functioning of RHFL and RCFL and was among the key decision-makers in financial operations. He had served as vice-chairman of Reliance Capital and was also group managing director (MD) within the ADAG structure.
Officials allege that the accused are involved in facilitating the diversion of large volumes of public funds through a network of shell or dummy companies with negligible financial standing and no genuine business operations.
ED claims that these entities were used to layer transactions, making it difficult to trace the ultimate beneficiaries and masking the alleged siphoning of funds.
The probe pertains to an alleged banking fraud exceeding ₹40,000 crore involving multiple group entities, including Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom). Investigators estimate that more than ₹11,000 crore of public funds turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) and were subsequently diverted.
So far, ED has attached assets worth over ₹15,000 crore–₹17,000 crore across multiple cases linked to the group. This includes high-value properties, bank account balances, and other financial holdings identified as 'proceeds of crime'.
Among the assets attached is a premium residential property in Mumbai valued at over ₹3,600 crore. In March, the agency also provisionally attached 31 immovable properties worth ₹581.65 crore spread across several states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka.
The case has seen coordinated action by ED and central bureau of investigation (CBI). Mr Jhunjhunwala was earlier questioned by CBI for more than three days in March, shortly before scheduled interrogations of Anil Ambani.
ED has also questioned Mr Ambani at least twice in connection with various money laundering cases. His statements were recorded most recently on 26 February 2026 at the agency’s headquarters.
Meanwhile, last month CBI registered a fresh criminal case against Mr Ambani and RCom based on a complaint by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The complaint alleges a wrongful loss of ₹3,750 crore to LIC.
The investigation has also uncovered alleged overseas transactions. Earlier, ED arrested another close aide, Punit Garg, in connection with the purchase of a Manhattan apartment valued at over ₹70 crore, allegedly using laundered funds.
Authorities are also probing the role of Mr Ambani’s wife, Tina Ambani, in connection with the transaction, including the alleged transfer of proceeds to a Dubai-based shell entity.
Officials indicated that the financial trail spans multiple jurisdictions, including the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), complicating the probe.
A spokesperson for Anil Ambani stated that Mr Jhunjhunwala is no longer associated with the Reliance ADA group and is currently operating as a fund manager with business interests in Dubai and Singapore.
Anil Ambani has also maintained that he stepped down from the boards of several group companies in 2017, distancing himself from subsequent operational decisions.
The scale of the alleged fraud has drawn judicial attention. The Supreme Court recently emphasised the need for a coordinated and time-bound investigation into large-scale banking frauds linked to Reliance Communications and related entities.
A bench headed by chief justice of India Surya Kant observed that agencies like ED and CBI must work in tandem to ensure a transparent and independent probe.
ED has stated that further investigation is underway to trace additional assets and identify the full extent of the alleged diversion of funds. Authorities are also working to establish accountability among key individuals involved in the financial transactions under scrutiny.
Was Jhunjhunwala a normal employee - a peon or a clerk, who was dependent on the monthly paycheck he got from Anil Ambani ? He wasn’t, he owned significant properties including 2 x 100 crore apartments in prime south Mumbai building. And many more properties. He could have lived a rich man’s life even on rentals he would get every month. He was the go to man for Anil Ambani. A group CFO of a large group, former treasurer of reliance industries. If he had any problems following instructions from anil Ambani, he had 5 corner office jobs that conglomerates would have created for him.
He chose to be in a role that gave him power, money and influence. He did not even need a salary post 2007, but he continued following Anil Ambani’s orders, in exchange of a fat salary and freedom to run parallel businesses (in disregard of KMP definition).
He was not a passive but an active participant. His involvement wasn’t incidental, it was by design, which he himself wanted.
And his blame game is a part of the larger master plan for turning him an approver to get an express exit pass out of Tihar.
Read the court order and ED filing. Not once but many times he chose to be the approver of questionable transactions. There were atleast 2-4 dozen top employees who came to RAAGA, but chose to leave after they saw the jugglery, whose juggler in chief was Amitabh jhunjhunwala, not Anil Ambani.
It is impossible for one Anil Ambani to perpetuate a crime of this magnitude. A scam that runs across every single company of RAAGA. The same pattern of using funds for purposes not allowed, using hundreds of shell companies to make thousands of questionable transactions every single year for 20 years. Jhunjhunwala chose to be in thick of things and in return made hundreds of crores every single year. He did not need to even work, he had made enough by 2007, yet he created RHFL and RCFL as vehicles to raise funds as flagship companies started getting deeper in the debt mess.
Anil Ambani could not have pulled a 73000 crore scam single handedly unless there was Amitabh jhunjhunwala to design the master plan and Sateesh seth to execute it along with 3 dozen company secretaries and chartered accountants like Amit Bapna. To an extent Amit bapna had no choice to toe Amitabh Jhunjhunwala’s line. But Amitabh had the choice to say no to Anil Ambani.
Even when Anmol Ambani came on board of reliance capital, and was marked on emails by Amit Bapna, the emails were addressed to jhunjhunwala with cc to Anmol Ambani. Jhunjhunwala could have handed over the approver responsibility of questionable transactions to benefit Ambani family to their Scion Anmol. He did not. Because he has much more to loose, the power the influence the money and the fast life he was leading driving cars worth 4 crores, when 92% of India just dreams of a 4 wheeler.
There may be couple of more group bigwigs who may need to give company to Jhunjhunwala, so that the groups board is in full quorum before the chairman arrives.
If you read the group spokespersons statement, he or she says: Amitabh Jhunjhunwala has no role or association with RADAG / RAAGA since 2019. The spokesperson did not say that Jhunjhunwala has no association with Anil Ambani or family wealth since 2019.
Jhunjhunwala ‘s arrest in effect is a “seizure of sorts” of the wealth stashed and invested globally. And would have covered the figure of 73000 crore that CBI stated in last weeks SC hearing.
The past trend of such high profile cases which investigation agencies have filed after significant efforts has often been questioned by big lawyers, who charge tens of lakhs per hearing, and have an army of employees to punch holes in chargesheets. Knowing the legal dramas that come up in court rooms, agencies are working diligently to ensure that the main beneficiary alongwith his accompliances don’t get away, like they did in 2G scam.
With no way to take funds out of listed companies, and arresting the closest aide with signatory powers globally, the fund flows have been plugged to a great extent. So much so that even Junior Jhunjhunwala will be averse of signing any document that eventually trips the funds for legal battles and investigation management consultants, same like Anshul and Anmol, or Tina Ambani.
The speed of the investigation does seem slow, but the raids, seizures and arrests at regular intervals clearly show that all actions are leading to the main beneficiary. And in a way, it doesn’t fall flat in the courtroom when Anil Ambani’s battery of lawyers start punching holes in the investigation or the procedures followed.
This is the biggest seizure by the Indian agencies till date which literally seizes the 73000 crore CBI estimated last week.