Ranbaxy Singh bros arrested

The Economic Offences Wing on Thursday arrested pharma major Ranbaxy’s former promoter Shivinder Singh in Rs 740 crore fraud case. The police, which had issued a look-out notice for Shivinder Singh's brother Malvinder, who is also named in the case, arrested him in the evening from Ludhiana.

The Economic Offences Wing is investigating a complaint filed by Religare Finvest in December that loans were taken by the Singh brothers while managing that company; however, the funds were invested in other companies linked to the duo.

“They put Religare in poor financial condition by disbursing the loans to companies controlled by them, and having no financial standing,” stated OP Mishra, additional CP, EoW.

The companies which received the loans wilfully defaulted on repayments and caused loss to Religare to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore. This loss was flagged during independent audit conducted by the Reserve Bank of India and the SEBI.

“All the accused have systematically siphoned off and diverted money of general public in a clandestine manner for their own benefit,” stated Mishra.

Shivinder has been arrested along with former Religare CMD Sunil Godhwani, Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena who also occupied important managerial positions in Religare during the same time.

Shivinder and Malvinder were heirs to the multi-billion dollar Ranbaxy Laboratories founded by their father. They sold it to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo in 2008 and focused on the family-owned Fortis Healthcare, a hospital chain, and Religare Enterprises, a financial services firm.

In 2013, Daiichi moved an arbitration tribunal in Singapore alleging that the brothers, while selling Ranbaxy, had concealed information that the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice were investigating the company. The tribunal in 2016 ordered the Singh brothers to pay Daiichi Rs. 2,562 crore. The brothers challenged the decision but in 2017, the Delhi High Court ordered them to pay up. The brothers' feud began after they lost control of both Fortis Healthcare and Religare.