Mumbai: Former Reliance Communications Group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, arrested by the CBI in a multi-crore bank loan fraud case, has been lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, officials said on Tuesday.
A Mumbai court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to arrest Jhunjhunwala, who was in judicial custody in New Delhi in a money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Considering the late hour and the accused’s travel from Delhi’s Tihar Jail, the court remanded him in judicial custody, with an application for his police custody scheduled for later in the day, officials said.
Jhunjhunwala, group managing director of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications Group, looked after important functions such as corporate finance, banking and fund utilization.
CBK has asserted that based on its instructions, loan funds received from banks were managed/used by other officials of the RCom group. Due to the misuse of loan funds, the banks suffered erroneous losses, the investigating agency said.
Last week, the investigating agency filed a charge sheet in the case against 16 individuals/entities. Jhunjhunwala was not named in the charge sheet filed in the special court, but the investigation against him was ongoing.
The accused named in the charge sheet included Reliance Communications, five senior executives of the company and 10 bank officials.
They were charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal embezzlement under the IPC, and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI said in a press release.
The charge sheet related to the alleged misuse of a term loan of Rs 1,200 crore sanctioned by SBI, Rs 500 crore letter of credit sanctioned by Bank of Maharashtra and Rs 350 crore Letter of credit sanctioned by Syndicate Bank, he said.
