Teams of Enforcement Directorate are reportedly conducting raids across Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi in connection with the Hythro Power Bank Fraud case.
The ED is learnt to have swung in action from a CBI inquiry against the promoters of Hythro Power Corporation Limited (HPCL)
What is the case?
HPCL's promoters Amul Ghabrani and Ajay Kumar Bishnoi are alleged to have siphoned off banking credit causing financial loss estimated at Rs 350 crores.
The ED case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a February 2025 CBI FIR where the promoters are alleged to have "siphoned off" the loan funds to some of their linked entities causing losses to the banks.
HPCL's core area of business was in turnkey projects and power-transmission projects. The company had sought loans from a consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank.
The total banking credit extended to HPCL is estimated at Rs 350 crores. In a period from six years to 2005, leading banks such as PNB (Rs 168.07 crore), ICICI Bank (77.81 crore), Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 44.49 crore), and the Union Bank (Rs 55.71 crore) had reportedly extended credit facilities to HPCL.
Connection with Bollywood
Forensic audits revealed that funds were siphoned off from HPCL and were routed to firms such as Avadh Transformers Pvt Ltd, GET Power Pvt Ltd, Revolution Infocom, TecproEngg, and others. The audit revealed that besides round-tripping, there was also invoices for unpaid receivables, and fictitious job work documents.
In 2015, Journalist Sucheta Dalal writing for MoneyLife covered the story of Bollywood movie producer Vikram Bhatt filing a police complaint against Ajay Bishnoi and Amul Ghabrani.
A more recent check of tax-filing details revealed a recent 2024 legal case where promoter Amul Ghabrani had been questioned by a tax tribunal over a Rs 19.77 crore tax case.
