New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has expanded its investigation into alleged financial irregularities connected to the Anil Ambani business group, now focusing on a parallel probe involving a fake bank guarantee worth Rs 68.2 crore.
On Thursday evening, the agency carried out search operations at four locations — three in Bhubaneswar and one in Kolkata — linked to Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd, a little-known company now under the scanner for allegedly running a network of shell firms and issuing forged bank guarantees in exchange for commissions.
Investigators have uncovered that Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd allegedly issued a fraudulent bank guarantee to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), charging a commission of around 8% for providing fake guarantees. The company is suspected of using deceptive digital tactics to execute the fraud, including the use of a spoofed domain, s-bi.co.in, crafted to closely resemble the official website of the State Bank of India (sbi.co.in). This cloned domain was used to send convincing forged emails to mislead SECI and other stakeholders.
Officials revealed that the suspects used encrypted messaging and Telegram’s disappearing message feature to avoid detection and maintain secrecy during their operations.
Further investigation suggests that the fake bank guarantee was used to support a financial transaction involving Reliance NU BESS Private Limited and Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited, both companies reportedly associated with the Anil Ambani group.
The ED is now probing the extent of involvement of various entities in the network and examining the flow of funds to determine if larger financial irregularities are involved.
