A former promoter of India’s leading healthcare firm was arrested on Friday for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) and causing losses to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore, officials said. Malvinder Singh, erstwhile promoter of Fortis Healthcare hospital chain, was held by the Economic Offences wing of the Delhi Police, they said.
Malvinder's brother Shivinder Mohan Singh, former promoter of Religare Enterprise Ltd (REL), Sunil Godhwani (58), former chairman and managing director of REL, Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena, who occupied key positions in REL and RFL, were also arrested on Thursday by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police for allegedly diverting money and investing in other companies, the officials said.
RFL is a subsidiary of the REL. Shivinder and his elder brother Malvinder were earlier the promoters of REL. The police had said that a lookout circular ad 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 a team of the Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police’s Additional Commissioner of Police O P Mishra said.
The police 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 siphoned off and diverted through a maze of financial transactions in 2016.
"They (Malvinder, Shivinder, Godhwani and Kavi) put RFL in poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies having no financial standing and were 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 alleged.
Malvinder and Shivinder were raided by Enforcement Directorate in August this year and the loss allegedly caused by them to RFL was pointed out in audit reports of the India’s central bank Reserve Bank of India and stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.