Ranbaxy ex-promoter Malvinder, Shivinder Singh arrested in Rs 740 crore fraud case

New Delhi, Oct 10: Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police on Thursday arrested Pharma giant Ranbaxy and Fortis hospital former promoter Shivinder Singh and his elder brother Malvinder Singh in a Rs. 740-crore fraud case.

Shivinder has been arrested along with former CMD Sunil Godhwani, Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena.

Religare has accused Shivinder Singh and the others of diverting funds and misappropriation amounting to Rs 740 crore.

In March, the Economics Offence Wing of Delhi Police had booked the Singh brothers were booked on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust related to Religare Enterprises and its subsidiary Religare Finvest Limited (RFL).

According to police, the complainant stated that the four were having absolute control on REL and its subsidiaries.

"They put RFL in poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies having no financial standing and controlled by them. The companies to which loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore," Additional Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) O P Mishra told PTI.

This was also pointed out and flagged during an independent audit by Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

"The alleged persons systematically siphoned and diverted money of general public in a clandestine manner for their own benefit," Mishra added.

In August, the Enforcement Directorate raided multiple premises linked to Malvinder and Shivinder. The ED is also investigating alleged misappropriation of over Rs 2,397 crore funds in this case and is probing companies like Arch Finance Ltd and RHC limited.

REL was controlled by the warring Singh brothers until February 2018. Post their exit from the board of REL, the boards of REL and RFL were re-constituted. The relationship between the Singh brothers, who were erstwhile promoters of Fortis and Ranbaxy, turned sour after allegations of fund diversion from the healthcare chain emerged apart from other charges of financial impropriety.

Ranbaxy was established by their grandfather Bhai Mohan Singh. The ties aggravated further over payment of arbitration award to Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo.

Shivinder had offered to pay his share of the Rs 3,500 crore award to Daiichi Sankyo in a dispute related to the acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories. They sold Ranbaxy to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo in 2008 for around USD 4.6 billion.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)