Delhi Court Grants 6 Days Custody of Former Reliance Group MD Sateesh Seth To ED

New Delhi: Former Group MD of Reliance Anil Ambani Group (RAAG) Sateesh Seth has been remanded in 6 days' ED custody by Delhi's Dwarka Court.

The court said that Custodial interrogation is required to identify the beneficiaries of proceeds of crime and to unearth the entire trail of money. The remand order was passed after midnight.

He has been arrested in an alleged money laundering case based on the allegations of syphoning of funds abroad through Hawala Channels by creating fictitious bills against overrated diamond imports.

The ED said the investigation under PMLA identified RIL as the primary beneficiary of a large-scale financial fraud involving systematic syphoning of public funds from two road construction projects awarded by NHAI, namely the Jaipur-Reengus Toll Road and Trichi-Karur Toll Road.

It is alleged that Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (RIL) was one of the corporations that utilised the shell entities to syphon funds abroad. RIL syphoned Rs. 92 crores abroad, the ED alleged.

The ED has registered an ECIR on the basis of the FIR lodged by the Mumbai Police in February 2026.

Vacation Judge Vandana Jain remanded Sateesh Seth in 6 days' ED custody after hearing the submissions made by the advocate Zoheb Hossain, special counsel for the ED.

After considering the facts and circumstances, the court opined, "Keeping in view the nature of allegations levelled against the accused/arrestee and role played by him in commission of alleged offence, there is a need for remanding him to ED custody for the purposes of investigation."

"Hence, accused Sateesh Seth is being remanded to the custody of ED for a period of 06 days till 19.06.2026 for the purposes of his detailed and sustained interrogation and shall be produced before the Vacation Judge at 11:00 AM on that day," the Vacation Judge ordered on June 14.

However, the court directed that the interrogation shall be conducted at a place having CCTV coverage in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, and the said CCTV footage shall be preserved.

ED produced the accused on the night of June 13 at the residence of the vacation judge of the Dwarka court. His remand order was passed after a long hearing of around three hours.

The ED produced Sateesh Seth before the judge and sought a remand of 13 days to interrogate him. He was brought to Delhi in Transit remand granted by a Mumbai court from June 12 to June 14 till 11 AM.

The ED has registered a case in relation to an FIR of 11.02.2026 under sections 409, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120B IPC by DB Marg Police Station, Greater Mumbai City, Maharashtra.

As per the FIR, several shell companies, such as M/s Geet Exim Pvt. Ltd. (Geet Exim/GEPL), Vibha Impex Pvt. Ltd. (Vibha Impex/VIPL), Pahal Impex Pvt. Ltd. (Pahal Impex/PIPL), etc., were found to be involved in syphoning funds abroad through Hawala by creating fictitious bills against over-valued diamond imports.

These entities were allegedly used by corporations involved in the road construction business, which syphoned public money from Government-awarded road contracts. An estimated total of approximately Rs 100 crores was syphoned in this manner.

Apart from the ED proceedings, a case under Section 37 of FEMA, read with Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, has also been registered, where search proceedings were conducted.

The Special Counsel for ED argued that the seized material in the FEMA case was taken on record for the purposes of investigation, which revealed that M/s Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (RIL) was one of the corporates that utilised the network of shell entities involving GEPL, PIPL, VIPL and others to syphon funds abroad.

The ED investigation under PMLA identified RIL as the primary beneficiary of a large-scale financial fraud involving systematic syphoning of public funds from two road construction projects awarded by NHAI, namely the Jaipur-Reengus Toll Road and Trichi-Karur Toll Road.

The Special counsel argued that RIL diverted approx Rs 92 crores (Rs 90.16 crores after deduction of TDS) from these projects through a premeditated scheme involving fictitious sub-contracting arrangements, layered through a network of shell entities, with the ultimate objective of remitting the syphoned funds outside India.

It was further argued that RIL executed these projects through two wholly owned special purpose vehicles (SPVs) with project financing sourced from Bank loans, NHAI grants and later toll collections from the general public. The grants to the tune of more than Rs. 102.89 crores and Rs. 134.26 crores were received by the SPVs of RIL.

Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain argued that the modus operandi involves RIL routing funds to a network of shell entities, which, thereafter, remitted the funds outside India under the guise of payments for import of polished and unpolished diamonds.

The ED said that Sateesh Seth held the position of Group Managing Director, exercising overall control over key commercial and financial decisions of several group companies of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group (RAAG). Seth has been involved in decision-making processes relating to the structuring of transactions, routing of funds, and financial and managerial decisions.

Seth was an Executive Director with RIL from 2000 to 2007 and was thereafter Executive Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2003 till 2007 and thereafter remained as a Non-Executive Vice Chairman from 2007 till November 2024.

It is alleged that in the Jaipur Project, the RIL awarded the construction contract to M/s Prakash Asphalting and Toll Highways (PATH) for 315 crores. RIL made advance payments of Rs 39.2 crores to PATH in September 2010 under an undated amendment to the construction agreement, which was a sham agreement, as its stamp papers were purchased in October 2010, weeks after the making of the payment.

It is alleged that PATH further transferred Rs 38 crore to GEPL, which is a shell entity whose bank details were furnished to PATH by the Secretary to Sudhir Hoshing at RIL.

ED's Special Counsel argued that no work was executed by GEPL, and an amount of Rs 38 crores was transferred to GEPL on the instruction of RIL, which was later remitted to several foreign entities.

It is alleged by the ED that, similarly, in the Trichy-Karur Project, the SPV of RIL engaged M/s Utility Energy Tech and Engineers Pvt. Ltd (UEEPL), later renamed Reliance Utility Engineers Pvt. Ltd (RUEPL), as EPC contractor, a company whose board and operations were controlled by the subordinate and associates of Sateesh Seth at RIL.

The ED argued that UEEPL awarded this construction contract to KCPL, which received Rs 50.96 crores from UEEPL. Out of this amount, Rs 40.56 crores were transferred to PIPL without any agreement or actual work having been executed.

It was argued that the financial control of Sateesh Seth over UEEPL can be seen from the fact that funds amounting to more than Rs 50 crores were transferred from the renamed entity RUEPL to one of the entities beneficially controlled by his family.

While seeking 13 days' custody, Special Counsel argued that custodial interrogation of Sateesh Seth was required to ascertain the full quantum of the proceeds of crime (POC) involved, trace the end utilisation of the same and identify the assets and properties acquired out of the POC.

It was also argued that the ultimate beneficial owners of the funds remitted to UAE-based entities are also to be identified. He argued that custody is further required to uncover the complete role and extent of involvement of co-conspirators.

Advocate S S Boparai appeared for Sateesh Seth and opposed the remand application on the ground that the arrest is illegal as it is in blatant violation of Sections 19 (1) and 19 (2) of PMLA. He argued that the ED has failed to establish that the accused/arrestee is guilty of committing an offence, which is a primary requirement under Section 19 (1) to arrest an accused.

He also argued that the requirement of furnishing information to the adjudicating authority has not been complied with by the ED.

Seth had attended 3 summons in the connected case of FEMA in the year 2025 and had also appeared before the Investigating Officer of ED on 04.05.2026 in Delhi, the counsel Boparai said.

He submitted that, pursuant to appearing before the ED, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi on the very same date and got discharged on May 6. He was again admitted to Kokila Ben Hospital for 05 days. His medical condition is very severe; he is 70 years old, and his medical documents clearly show that he requires urgent medical supervision, and, therefore, he should be immediately released. The ED has failed to show the need and necessity of his arrest or his commission of any offence.

On the need and necessity to arrest, the court said that the profile and the role of the arrestee in committing the offence have been explained by the ED in the application. The portion of the proceeds of crime diverted abroad is yet to be traced. Custodial interrogation is required to identify the beneficiaries of proceeds of crime and to unearth the entire trail of money.

The court permitted the provision of a diet as prescribed by the doctor. It is further directed that in case of any emergency, he be rushed to the hospital.

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