Former Ranbaxy promoter Shivinder Singh arrested in fraud case

Mr. Shivinder Singh, his elder brother Malvinder Singh and three others have been arrested on allegations of cheating and diverting funds of Religare Finvest Limited to the tune of ₹2,3970000000. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police on Thursday arrested Ranbaxy’s former promoter Shivinder Singh, his elder brother Malvinder Singh and three others on allegations of cheating and diverting funds of Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) to the tune of ₹2,3970000000. The five persons were taken into custody after questioning. Sunil Godhwani, 58, the former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL), Kavi Arora, 48, and Anil Saxena, who also occupied important positions in REL and RFL, were also arrested by the EOW for allegedly diverting money. RFL is a subsidiary of the REL. Mr. Shivinder Singh and Mr. Malvinder Singh were earlier the promoters of REL. A senior police officer confirmed that Mr. Malvinder Singh, who had been absconding, has been arrested from Ludhiana in Punjab. He will be produced before a magistrate in Saket Court. The EOW had registered an FIR in March on a complaint from Manpreet Singh Suri of the RFL against Mr. Shivinder Singh, Mr. Godhwani and others, alleging that loans were taken by him while managing that firm but the money was invested in other companies. According to the police, the complainant stated that they had 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, wilfully defaulted,” Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) O.P. Mishra said. This was also pointed out and flagged during an independent audit by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 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,” Mr. Mishra added. In August, the Enforcement Directorate raided multiple premises linked to Malvinder and Shivinder. The ED is also probing alleged misappropriation of over ₹2,3970000000 funds in this case and is probing companies like Arch Finance Limited and RHC limited. The accused have been arrested under Sections 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of IPC. In December 2018, a criminal complaint was filed by Religare Finvest Limited with the EOW against the Singh brothers and other top management officials.