law enforcement bureau Amitabh Jhunjhunwala was arrested in Mumbai on Wednesday evening amid ongoing money laundering probe against entities of the agency. Anil Ambani The group includes Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance. ED produced Jhunjhunwala before a special court and sought remand. Jhunjhunwala was deputy chairman of Reliance Capital Ltd, which holds these entities.The ED also arrested Amit Bapna, PTI reported. Bapna served as the chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Reliance Capital from 2008 to 2020.Anil Ambani’s spokesman said Jhunjhunwala is now a fund manager operating in Dubai and Singapore and no longer has any relationship with Reliance ADAG.Jhunjhunwala is part of the unified Reliance group and had been associated with Reliance Industries Ltd for more than two decades before the group was demerged.In March, the CBI questioned Jhunjhunwala for over three days, just ahead of Anil Ambani’s meeting with the agency scheduled for March 19-20.Anil Ambani himself was questioned at least twice by the Enforcement Directorate, which recorded his statements in connection with multiple money laundering probes launched by the agency into alleged misappropriation of public funds through shell entities. His last interrogation was on February 26 at the ED headquarters, a day after the agency claimed to have seized his Mumbai residence worth over Rs 3,600 crore.ED has so far attached assets of over Rs 15,000 crore from Ambani and his associated entities in multiple money laundering cases.Ambani and his associates are being investigated for alleged bank fraud worth over Rs 40,000 crore involving Reliance Communications (R-Comm) and other entities.Earlier, the ED arrested Punit Garg, another close aide of Ambani, after it was found that he had purchased an apartment worth over Rs 70 crore in Manhattan, New York, allegedly using proceeds of crime laundered from bank loans obtained by Ambani group entities in India.Ambani’s wife Tina is also under investigation in connection with the Manhattan apartment and its subsequent sale, as well as the alleged transfer of “proceeds of crime” to a shell company in Dubai.
