Mumbai: A special court on Saturday remanded Amit Bapna, the former chief financial officer of Reliance Capital Ltd, to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody until July 7 in connection with an alleged bank fraud involving Rs 9,280 crore. Special Judge Nitin V Jiwane granted the custody after Bapna was produced before the court on a production warrant from Tihar Jail in Delhi and formally arrested. He was in custody there in a case investigated by the Enforcement Directorate.Seeking Bapna’s custody, the CBI submitted that Bapna, who served as the chief financial officer from Aug 2014 to Dec 2019, colluded with other accused, including former group chief executive officer Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, to siphon off public funds. “He allegedly facilitated and approved loans to intermediary and conduit companies despite being aware that such lending was contrary to RBI guidelines and the sanction conditions governing borrowings from public-sector banks. Investigation further revealed that funds borrowed by Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) were diverted through such intermediary entities to various Reliance ADA Group companies, including Reliance Capital Ltd, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd, thereby causing wrongful loss to the lending banks and corresponding wrongful gain to the accused persons and related entities,” the CBI submitted.According to the prosecution, the case originated from a complaint lodged by the Bank of Maharashtra, which was subsequently joined by 31 consortium banks and financial institutions after a forensic audit exposed the multi-crore fraud. The CBI argued that the borrowed funds were intentionally diverted to various shell companies instead of being utilised for their sanctioned purposes, necessitating custodial interrogation to uncover the deep-rooted conspiracy and trace the involvement of public servants.Bapna’s defence lawyer strongly opposed the CBI custody.Granting custody, the court observed that Bapna held a critical financial position during the period when the alleged offences took place and noted that the co-accused had already been arrested.
