Religare fraud case: Delhi court grants 4-day custodial interrogation of Singh brothers, 3 others

A Delhi court on Friday granted the police 4-day custody of former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh, his brother Shivinder and three others, arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) and causing it losses of Rs 2,397 crore.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat allowed custodial interrogation of the five people arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.

Delhi Police has sought 6-day custody for all the five.

Malvinder (46) was arrested on Friday morning while Shivinder (44), Sunil Godhwani (58), the former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), Kavi Arora (48) and Anil Saxena, who occupied important positions in REL and RFL, were arrested Thursday by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police for allegedly diverting money and investing in other companies.

The police told the court that their custodial interrogation was necessary as they were allegedly involved in the diversion of public money and needs to be tracked.

It further said that a lot of people are involved in the alleged cheating and misappropriation of the fund.

The counsel representing the accused opposed the Delhi police plea and said their custody was not required as the evidence is documentary.

RFL is a subsidiary of the REL. Malvinder and Shivinder were earlier the promoters of REL.

The police had said that a lookout circular (LOC)had been issued against Malvinder as he was absconding.

He was detained on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in Ludhiana and was formally arrested on Friday morning after he was brought here by the EOW team, Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) O P Mishra earlier told reporters.

The EOW had registered an FIR in March after it received a complaint from Manpreet Singh Suri of the RFL against Shivinder, Godhwani and others alleging that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.

According to the police, the complainant stated that the four 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 being controlled by them. The companies to which loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused a loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore," Mishra had alleged.

Meanwhile, in another development, the Delhi High Court on Friday reserved order on whether to issue notice on former Fortis Healthcare promoter Malvinder Singh's plea seeking quashing of an FIR against him that alleged misappropriation of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) funds, causing Rs 2,397 crore in losses.

Justice Brijesh Sethi reserved order on the plea after hearing arguments on behalf of Singh, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police and RFL.

Singh had approached the high court Thursday, hours before his arrest.

Singh, in his plea, has contended that only the SFIO, which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, could have investigated the allegations of fraud and cheating against him.

(With PTI inputs)