RFL case: Ex-Fortis Healthcare promoter Malvinder Singh's bail plea dismissed

A Delhi court Monday dismissed the bail plea of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Malvinder Singh, arrested for alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur rejected the bail application, saying Malvinder was required to be kept in judicial custody for a proper investigation.

Malvinder (46); his brother Shivinder, also a former Fortis Healthcare promoter; former CMD of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) Sunil Godhwani (58); former CEO of REL Kavi Arora (48) and former CFO of RFL Anil Saxena were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police for allegedly diverting RFL's money and investing in other companies.

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

"They put RFL in a poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies with no financial standing and (which were) controlled by them. The companies to which the loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused a loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore," the police had alleged.

The police had earlier disputed Malvinder claims that he paid back the money to the entities concerned and said the money was still with RFL's holding company, RHC, controlled by him.

The police counsel claimed that loans were disbursed to shell companies known to the promoters and the ultimate beneficiary was Religare Holding Company (RHC), of which Malvinder and Shivinder are promoters.

Advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing for complainant Manpreet Suri of RFL, said that Malvinder as one of the promoters of RHC had siphoned off money that came to the RHC.

Malvinder had earlier told the court that he has paid back the money to the 14 entities through which he had received it.

Advocate Manu Sharma, appearing for Singh, had said that the EOW "cherry picked" him because of his affiliation with the family of spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, who allegedly conspired with other co-accused in the case in allegedly carrying out financial fraud.

RFL owes money to RHC, Sharma said.

Senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, appearing for Suri, had earlier told the court that loans were disbursed to shell companies known to the promoters and the ultimate beneficiary was RHC Holding company.

He had further claimed that unsecured loans had been given to shell entities without any due diligence as they were known to the promoters.

Gupta had alleged that documents showed the involvement of Shivinder in disbursal of unsecured loans to the shell companies which were further diverted to other companies and co-accused Malvinder, resulting in huge amount of public money being misappropriated.

RFL is a group firm of REL - Religare Enterprises Ltd, which was earlier promoted by Malvinder and his brother Shivinder.