Supreme Court Says ED, CBI Appeared Reluctant in Probe Into Anil Ambani-Led Companies’ Loan Fraud Allegations
From the Editor’s Desk
March 24, 2026
The Supreme Court has said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appeared reluctant to proceed in the alleged loan fraud case involving Anil Ambani-led companies. A court pressing the country’s main financial crime investigators to act in a case involving public sector bank money raises uncomfortable questions about the state’s willingness to pursue accountability where corporate power is involved.
The case before the court arises from a public interest litigation alleging large-scale diversion of bank loans by companies belonging to the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), as reported by The Times of India.
Three firms, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom, received about 318.5 billion (31,850 crore) rupees in loans from a consortium of public sector banks led by the State Bank of India between 2013 and 2017, according to the petition, which alleges that the funds were routed through shell entities, accounting entries were manipulated and external commercial borrowings were misused, allegedly resulting in losses to banks funded by public deposits.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, said the conduct of the investigating agencies had shown reluctance and directed the ED and CBI to carry out an expeditious and coordinated inquiry against ADAG entities, their directors and officials. The judges said the investigation must be transparent, fair and prompt so that it inspires confidence among the court, stakeholders and the public.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that the market regulator had already documented the alleged financial misconduct. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had prepared a report on the transactions involving companies of the ADAG, but the investigative agencies did not act on it until the court issued notices. The bench had earlier required Anil Ambani to give an undertaking that he would not leave India without the court’s permission.
SEBI’s mandate is to watch financial markets and banking activity and flag suspicious conduct. The CBI and the ED are then expected to examine whether those findings amount to criminal wrongdoing. In this case, irregularities had already been recorded, but the investigation appeared to gather pace only after the court stepped in.
The judges’ remarks raise questions about the pace of investigation in large financial cases. The allegations in this case concern billions borrowed from public sector banks, but progress was slow enough for the court to comment on the lack of urgency.
The court’s order asking banks to provide loan-sanction records has pushed the inquiry toward an earlier stage of the story. Investigators want to know how the loans were approved between 2013 and 2017 and what checks were carried out before such large sums were released. The attention is not only on the alleged diversion of funds but also the decisions inside banks that allowed the lending to happen.
Further, lawyers for the company suggested that the dispute with banks could be settled through negotiations over repayment. The government’s law officer responded that repayment might resolve financial dues but would not close questions about possible criminal conduct.
Court intervention can push agencies to act more quickly, but it also suggests that the court felt investigative progress had been insufficient.
The public interest aspect is significant in the case, given that loans involved public sector banks, which operate with deposits from ordinary citizens and carry the backing of the state. Allegations that such funds were misused therefore are not part of a private dispute between lenders and borrowers.
SEO description: The Supreme Court said the ED and CBI appeared reluctant in the probe into alleged loan diversion involving Anil Ambani-led companies. The court ordered a faster investigation into loans worth ₹31,850 crore taken from public sector banks.
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