The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Partha Sarathi Biswal, the Managing Director of Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd. (BTPL), in connection with a money laundering investigation tied to a larger financial scandal involving Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Power. The arrest follows detailed probes and coordinated searches by the ED in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. The investigation revealed that BTPL allegedly received ₹5.4 crore from Reliance Power in exchange for arranging fake bank guarantees worth ₹68.2 crore.
The fraudulent guarantees were reportedly backed by forged endorsements from the State Bank of India and were supported by spoofed confirmation emails mimicking official SBI communication. These guarantees were submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) as part of a tender process. The ED suspects that this was a carefully orchestrated operation, involving digital forgery and impersonation to mislead a government-owned agency and unlawfully secure project advantages.
This case originated from an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police and is now under the purview of the PMLA due to its financial and cross-border implications. The ED's focus on the financial trail leading from Reliance Power to BTPL is especially significant, as it potentially implicates the Ambani-led firm in fraudulent financial practices.
This arrest marks a critical step in the investigation and may be the precursor to further scrutiny of Reliance Power’s financial dealings. The ED is expected to question more individuals associated with the transactions, as the agency intensifies its efforts to establish the full extent of the alleged conspiracy and corporate misrepresentation.
