Former Ranbaxy Promoter Malvinder Singh Arrested Hours After Brother Shivinder Singh Held

Hours after Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police arrested Pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy's ex-promoter Shivinder Singh, his elder brother Malvinder Singh was also held in Ludhiana. Three other persons - Kavi Arora, Sunil Godhwani and Anil Saxena – have also been arrested by the city cops.  

Religare has accused the Singh brothers in a Rs 740-crore fraud case. The company accused them of diverting funds and misappropriation.

"RFL saw a change in management. When the new management took over, they found that a loan had been taken but the money 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 senior police officer.

The arrest has been made months after Religare Finvest Limited filed a criminal complaint against the Singh brothers. Later in May, a case was filed against them. Following which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated the money laundering case against them.

In August, the Enforcement Directorate 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.

The relationship between the Singh brothers, who were erstwhile promoters of Fortis and Ranbaxy, turned sour after allegations of fund diversion from the healthcare chain emerged apart from other charges of financial impropriety. Ranbaxy was established by their grandfather Bhai Mohan Singh.

The ties aggravated further over payment of arbitration award to Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo.

Shivinder had offered to pay his share of the Rs 3,500 crore award to Daiichi Sankyo in a dispute related to the acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories. They sold Ranbaxy to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo in 2008 for around USD 4.6 billion.

With PTI Inputs