Former Ranbaxy promoter Shivinder Singh, 2 others held in Rs740-cr fraud case
11 Oct 2019
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The Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi police on Thursday arrested Shivinder Mohan Singh, the erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) along with REL’s former chief Sunil Godhwani.
The arrests were made after a complaint of misappropriation of funds of Religare Finvest, which is REL’s lending arm. The EOW also issued a lookout notice against Shivinder’s elder brother Malvinder Mohan Singh, who was not in Delhi.
Shivinder and Malvinder have been accused of misappropriating funds to the tune of Rs740 crore. Following a criminal complaint filed by Religare Finvest against the brothers in December 2018 with the EoW, a case was filed in May this year and the Enforcement Directorate had, in August, raided the residences of the Singh brothers.
The two brothers have been accused of criminal actions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including cheating, criminal breach of trust, criminal misappropriation, and forgery with regard to issuance and redemption of preference shares of REL between 2008 and 2016.
The Singh brothers sold Ranbaxy Laboratories for Rs10,000 crore in 2008. However, their plans to move into the healthcare and financial services sector in a big way were hampered by various charges of fraud, siphoning of funds, and mounting debt. Instead of bolstering investment in the healthcare sector, the Singh brothers lost control of Religare and Fortis Healthcare as debt mounted.
The two have also been found guilty of siphoning and mismanagement of funds from Fortis Healthcare.
