Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal arrested by ED in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, an aide of Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani in connection with a money laundering case against Reliance Power, officials in the know told HT Media on Saturday.

Ashok Kumar Pal is the Chief Financial Officer and a former director of Reliance Power. He has been accused of being part of the company's alleged fake bank guarantee money laundering case.

The Reliance Power CFO has been arrested and taken into custody under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said on the day.

The arrest stems from an ED investigation against the Anil Ambani group of companies including Reliance Power in a ₹17,000 crore bank fraud case.

What did Reliance Power say on Ashok Kumar Pal's arrest?

Reliance Power said that Ashok Kumar Pal has demitted the office of the company's Executive Director and CFO with immediate effect.

In an exchange filing on 11 October, Reliance Power said, “the Company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and are a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy. In this matter, Shri Ashok Kumar Pal, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer(CFO) of the Company has been arrested by ED in the night of October 10, 2025 under Section 19 of PMLA, 2002. ”

The company further noted, “Pending the ongoing matter and in order to assist the investigation, Shri Ashok Kumar Pal has demitted the office of Executive Director and CFO with immediate effect. We also wish to clarify on the media reports that Mr. Anil D. Ambani is not on the Board of Reliance Power Limited for more than 3.5 years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner.”

Read full statement here —

ED raids

The Enforcement Directorate started its search operations at more than 35 premises across Mumbai and Delhi on Thursday, 24 July 2025, as part of the agency's money laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) into the Reliance Group of Companies.

Multiple media reports suggested that ED-conducted raids on Thursday were in connection with an alleged ₹3,000-crore bank loan fraud involving Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Group of Companies and Yes Bank.

Preliminary investigation reveals illegal loan diversion of around ₹3,000 crore from Yes Bank (period 2017 to 2019).

ED said it has found that "just before the loan was granted, the Yes Bank promoters received money in their concerns.

In violation of the loan terms, the officials said, these loans were further diverted to many group companies and shell companies.

It was also informed that "Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is also learnt to have shared its findings with ED in the case of RHFL."

"Dramatic increase in corporate loans by RHFL, from ₹3,742.60 crore in Financial Year 2017-18 to ₹8,670.80 crore in Financial Year 2018-19 is also under ED lens. Issues of irregular and expedited approvals, process deviations many other illegalities have been found," added the officials.

Who is Ashok Kumar Pal?

According to the website of Reliance Power, Ashok Kumar Pal is the CFO of the company and a qualified Chartered Accountant with extensive hands-on experience of over 25 years.

Ashok Kumar Pal has been with Reliance Power for nearly eight years, and joined around the time when the alleged money laundering operations started.

He joined Reliance Power as a deputy general manager and has held different roles in the company since then. Pal also served as an executive director of the company.