On April 20, 2026, the CBI arrested two people from the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, making this bank loan fraud investigation a much bigger deal. Before this, the ED had already held those same people while investigating Rs s 40,000 crore in money laundering.
Arrests and the charges being leveled
Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, formerly the vice-chairman of Reliance Capital, and Amit Bapna, who used to be the chief financial officer, are considered the main players in sending the loans to other places. The authorities say they both arranged for money to go through companies with very little actual activity, to help businesses that are connected to the group.
The Enforcement Directorate had already asked Jhunjhunwala and Bapna about money laundering and moving over Rs and 40,000 crore. The CBI now wants to keep them so they can question them more, find out where the money went, and find out who else was involved in this alleged plan.
Scale of the alleged fraud and asset actions
Officials believe the money laundering and the moving of funds amounts to at least Rs 40,000 crore. Investigators are also looking specifically at a Rs 3,750 crore loss to the Life Insurance Corporation, which they say happened because of dishonest investment bonds.
In addition, the authorities have temporarily seized nearly Rs 17,000 crore in assets connected to this investigation. The extent and value of the seized assets show a complicated and extensive attempt to get money back while the investigation continues.
Forensic audit findings and bank exposure
This case started with a detailed examination of the finances and a complaint made to the police on August 18, 2025 by a main bank. That examination says that between 2013 and 2017, money from the loans was misused and sent around to other companies in the group, making it hard to get the money back and not being open about it.
SBI (State Bank of India) reported a Rs 2,929.05 crore loss in the examination. Seventeen government owned banks are exposed to a total of Rs 19,694.33 crore, showing that the Ambani Group and these loans pose a big risk to many banks.
Corporate context and Reliance Communications history
Reliance Communications, which used to be a top company in the phone business, got into a lot of debt and had large losses, causing problems with the banks. The banks claim the company didn’t use the money to pay off the loans, but instead handled it badly, which has led to this argument and a much larger financial risk for the whole group.
That’s the overall situation of the company. Those in charge are looking at what the board of directors decided in the past, where the money was invested, and how money moved between the different companies in the group. They’re trying to figure out if problems with how the company was run allowed the money to be moved as alleged.
Legal implications and next steps
Recently the Supreme Court refused to pause the process of labeling the accounts as fraudulent, so the legal pressure continues. Anil Ambani says he left the boards of the companies in t 2017, but investigators are still checking to see if he was involved in the alleged plan and misuse of money.
Now that the top executives are in jail, the CBI will likely ask the court to allow them to keep them, to get documents and computer records. The investigators might also start looking into money that was sent to other countries and seize more assets temporarily.
Related actions and what to watch next
The authorities are also looking into a separate case of bribery involving the purchase of drones. This led to the arrest of someone who works for the company and someone who works for the government in a Rs 15 lakh case. This shows that they are carefully looking at all areas of following the rules.
The court cases, what happens with the seized assets, and any new accusations will be watched by the stock market, banks, and people to whom the company owes money. These investigations as they develop could change how creditors get their money back, how companies are run, and how regulators oversee big company debt.
