ED arrests former Reliance Telecom executives in money laundering probe

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NEW DELHI: ED Friday arrested Gautam Doshi and Satish Seth, former top executives in Reliance Telecom and close associates of Anil Ambani, in its ongoing money laundering probe against Ambani’s Reliance group entities. Doshi and Seth were arrested in Mumbai. While Doshi was brought to Delhi to be presented before a special PMLA court; Seth, after arrest, was hospitalised at JJ Hospital in Mumbai. “Doctors who are treating the accused were not allowing ED to physically produce him before court. Hence, ED moved application seeking permission to produce him on video conference,” it said. Later, a Mumbai court sent Seth to ED custody for two days with transit remand to be produced before a Delhi court on June 14. ED’s case against Ambani and his group entities and associates is handled by a special investigation team constituted at the agency’s headquarters here. The duo, along with Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, who is in judicial custody, comprised the core leadership team of Ambani. Doshi was earlier arrested in 2011 by CBI in its 2G spectrum scam case and was behind bars for seven months before he was granted bail. In March, CBI had registered a fresh anti-corruption FIR against Seth and Doshi for bank fraud of over Rs 100 crore, and had also searched their premises in Mumbai. The agency had also questioned the three executives on a complaint filed by SBI, which was the lead bank in a consortium of 11 banks that had lent to Reliance Telecom. Seth served as MD of Ambani’s Reliance Communications, vice-chairman of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and a board member of Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL). Doshi was group MD and a board member of RTL. Jhunjhunwala, who was the first to be arrested by ED, was also a group MD and served as vice-chairman of Reliance Capital. In a statement, a spokesperson for Ambani had told TOI earlier that the three former executives were no longer associated with Reliance group. Jhunjhunwala, before his arrest, was an independent fund manager with operations in Dubai and Singapore, while Seth was engaged in real estate and software ventures. Doshi was involved with a tax and mergers & acquisitions advisory firm, in addition to serving on the boards of major companies such as Sterlite Industries, Sun Pharma, Suzlon Energy and Piramal Enterprises, according to the spokesperson.