New Delhi: The Delhi Police arrested Thursday former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh and three others for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore, officials said.
Sunil Godhwani (58), the former CMD 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 Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police for allegedly diverting money and investing in other companies, they said.
RFL is a subsidiary of the REL. Shivinder and his elder brother Malvinder were earlier the promoters of REL. Malvinder is absconding and a look out circular has been issued against him, the police said. The four were taken into custody after questioning, the police added.
The EOW had registered an FIR in March after it received a complaint from Manpreet Singh Suri of the RFL against Shivinder Mohan Singh, Sunil Godhwani and others alleging that loans were taken by him while managing that firm but the money was invested in other companies.
“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) OP Mishra told reporters.
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 (ED) 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.
PTI