Plea before Supreme Court seeks CBI probe into alleged KG Basin gas extraction by Reliance

A plea has been filed before the Supreme Court for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged unauthorised extraction of natural gas by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) from a block in the KG Bhasin operated by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) [Jitendra Maru Vs CBI].

The appeal has been filed by Jitendra Punamchand Maru. Maru seeks the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against RIL, its directors and others for alleged theft, criminal breach of trust, dishonest misappropriation and criminal conspiracy.

Before the top court, Maru has challenged a March 27 judgment of the Bombay High Court, which dismissed his petition as an abuse of the process of court.

The High Court had held that the petition, though projected as a public cause, did not serve any public purpose. It also concluded that Maru had failed to establish his bona fides.

“This writ petition fails on each count and has been filed with a tainted motive,” the High Court had said.

The dispute concerns the alleged migration of gas from ONGC’s blocks in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin to the adjoining KG-D6 block operated by RIL and its consortium partners.

Maru had alleged that RIL tapped gas from ONGC’s wells through sideways drilling. He relied on reports prepared to examine the migration of gas as well as subsequent court proceedings between RIL and the Union government.

He had claimed that despite findings concerning RIL's alleged extraction of gas from the adjoining ONGC block, no criminal investigation was initiated. He then approached the CBI seeking registration of an FIR. The agency closed his complaint in September 2025.

Before the High Court, the CBI maintained that the allegations prima facie concerned a civil dispute. It also pointed out that neither ONGC nor the Union government, the parties that could raise an outstanding claim against RIL, had sought the probe.

RIL denied the allegation of gas theft and described the writ petition as an attempt to damage its reputation and generate publicity for the petitioner.

The High Court questioned Maru over his delay of more than a decade in seeking criminal proceedings.

The Bench also emphasised that registration of a criminal case was a serious matter carrying drastic consequences for the proposed accused.

“A petition like the present one causes serious harm to the reputation and business prospects of any Corporate entity,” the judgment said.

A commercial dispute between the Union government and RIL over the alleged gas migration from ONGC's KG Basin block has earlier resulted in an arbitral award in RIL's favour in July 2018.

A single judge of the Delhi High Court upheld that award in May 2023. However, a Division Bench set aside the single judge’s ruling in February 2025.

RIL’s challenge to the Division Bench's decision is already pending separately before the Supreme Court.