Malvinder Singh, former Ranbaxy co-founder, arrested late night from Ludhiana hours after brother Shivinder's arrest in fraud case

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police arrested former co-promoter of Religare Enterprises, Malvinder Mohan Singh, in Ludhiana, Punjab, for allegedly causing wrongful loss of Rs 2,397 crore to Religare Finvest Ltd, media reports said. A lookout notice was issued against Malvinder on Thursday He was in Ludhiana, getting medical treatment, Times Now said citing sources. He was arrested from Ludhiana and will be brought to Delhi on transit demand. “He was nabbed in Punjab, and we are getting him to Delhi," a Mint report quoted a senior Delhi police official on Malvinder Singh Malvinder Singh was arrested hours after his younger brother Shivinder Singh, former Religare Enterprises chairman, and managing director of the firm was taken in custody. Besides the brothers three other officials from the companies were arrested in the same case. Kavi Arora, Sunil Godhwani and Anil Saxena were arrested for allegedly diverting public money and investing in their companies, they said .Till now, five people have been arrested in connection with the case, including Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena, media reports said. [caption id=“attachment_1966333” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Malvinder Singh. Reuters[/caption] They were arrested on a complaint given by Religare Enterprises Limited (REL). Religare has accused them of diverting funds and misappropriation. According to the media reports, Shivinder’s brother Malvinder is absconding and a look out circular has been issued against him by Delhi Police. Religare has accused the co-promoters of diverting funds, claiming that loans were taken by Shivinder Singh while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies. “RFL saw a change in management. When the new management took over, they found that a loan had been taken but the money had been invested in other companies linked to Singh and his brother. They filed a complaint with the EOW and subsequently, an FIR was registered,” said a report in News18 citing a senior police officer. “The alleged persons, having absolute control of Religare Enterprises Ltd and its subsidiaries, put Religare Finvest Ltd in poor financial condition by way of disbursing loans to the companies having no financial standing and controlled by the alleged persons," the Delhi Police had said in the statement earlier on Thursday, a report in Mint said. In December last year, REL’s subsidiary Religare Finvest (RFL) had filed the complaint with the EoW, alleging fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 740 crore and had named the Singh brothers and others. On their part, the Singh brothers had blamed Godhwani for the troubles faced by the group. The EoW FIR had been registered for various offences including cheating, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, fraud and forgery and criminal conspiracy. The REL was controlled by the warring Singh brothers until February 2018. Post their exit from the board of REL in February 2018, the boards of REL and RFL have been re-constituted. Earlier, in August this year, the Enforcement Directorate had raided multiple premises linked to erstwhile Religare promoters, brothers Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh, and others in connection with a money laundering case. --With PTI inputs