Reliance Power tanks 11% after reports suggest ED arrested CFO Ashok Pal

Reliance Power shares slipped 11 per cent on BSE, logging an intra-day low at ₹43.05 per share. At 11:11 AM, Reliance Power's share price was down 5.12 per cent on BSE at ₹46.11 per share. In comparison, BSE Sensex was down 0.33 per cent at 82,226.14.

 

The market capitalisation of the company stood at ₹19,070.04 crore. The 52-week high was at ₹76.49 per share, and the 52-week low was at ₹31.3.  

What led to a decline in Reliance Power's shares?

The selling pressure on the counter came after reports suggested that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the company's chief financial officer (CFO), Ashok Pal, in a money-laundering probe linked to an allegedly forged ₹68.2-crore bank guarantee.

 

Pal was taken into custody on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act following ED questioning. Reliance Power said the company and its subsidiaries are victims of fraud and forgery, adding that Pal has resigned as executive director and CFO to aid the investigation. It also clarified that Anil D. Ambani has not served on the company’s board for over three years and is unrelated to the matter.

 

The case pertains to a bank guarantee of ₹68.2 crore submitted to Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Ltd (formerly Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd), a Reliance Power subsidiary, which SECI later found to be fake. The ED has linked the alleged guarantee racket to Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink. In August, the agency searched premises tied to the firm and its promoters and arrested managing director Partha Sarathi Biswal.

 

The money-laundering probe stems from a November 2024 FIR by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing, which alleged the firm issued bogus bank guarantees for an 8 per cent commission. Reliance Group had disclosed the suspected fraud to the exchanges on November 7, 2024, and said it filed a criminal complaint with the EOW in October 2024 against the third party.

 

Investigators also allege the Bhubaneswar-based company spoofed a State Bank of India email domain—using s-bi.co.in instead of sbi.co.in—to send forged communications to SECI.