The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at the residence of industrialist Anil Ambani and the registered offices of Reliance Communications (RCOM) in connection with a fresh bank fraud case involving the Bank of Baroda, officials said.

The case, registered based on a complaint from the bank on February 24, 2026, alleges that Anil Ambani and RCOM diverted and misutilised loans, causing a loss of over Rs 2,220 crore.

"The allegations in the FIR are that Bank of Baroda has suffered a loss of more than Rs 2,220 crore due to the loans availed by Reliance Communications which were allegedly diverted and misutilized by creating fictitious transactions with related parties," a CBI spokesperson said.

The complaint further alleges that RCOM manipulated its books to conceal irregularities, misrepresented its financial health, and diverted loan proceeds to related parties:

"RCOM, Reliance Infratel Ltd (RITL), and Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL), all related parties, cumulatively received Rs 31,580 crore from banks and financial institutions. Of these, Rs 6,265.85 crore was utilized for repayment of other banks' loans and Rs 5,501.56 crore for payment to related/connected parties, while Rs 3,674.85 crore was invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds. These investments were liquidated immediately and utilized for payments to related and non-related parties which indicated that utilization of loan amount was not as per terms of sanction," the complaint said.

The account had been declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2017.

"However, based on the petition filed by Anil Ambani before the Hon’ble High Court of Bombay, there was stay on the declaration of the accounts as a fraud by the Hon’ble High Court. The stay was vacated on 23.02.2026 after which the Bank of Baroda lodged this complaint and the CBI has taken up the case immediately," the spokesperson added.

The loan in question involved Bank of Baroda, the erstwhile Vijaya Bank, and Dena Bank (now merged with Bank of Baroda), and is separate from an earlier RCOM case registered by the CBI based on an SBI-led bank consortium.

"After registration of this case, the CBI has conducted searches at the residence of Anil Ambani and the registered offices of Reliance Communication Ltd. Various documents connected with these loan transactions have been recovered," the spokesperson said.

Earlier in the day, Ambani appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for a second round of questioning under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an alleged Rs 40,000 crore bank fraud linked to RCOM.

Investigation is ongoing, and no immediate response was available from Reliance Communications.

With inputs from PTI