Religare Finvest, a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), filed a complaint against promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh and their associates for allegedly siphoning and misappropriating funds.

The complaint also names REL ex-CMD Sunil Godhwani, among other directors, for cheating, fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 740 crore.

"Religare Finvest, a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises has filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police against the promoters of REL Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh as well as REL's former CMD, Sunil Godhwani, N K Ghoshal, the directors and officers of the promoter entities and other unknown persons for various offences under the Indian Penal Code," REL said in a regulatory filing.

The complaint has been registered for various offences including cheating, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, fraud and forgery and criminal conspiracy, REL said.

The complaint was filed basis internal inquiries (including an independent forensic review) undertaken by the new RFL board and management, it said, adding that the probe revealed that the Singh brothers siphoned money through loans to entities controlled by them or their associates.

The relationship between the Singh brothers, erstwhile promoters of Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy, went sour after allegations of fund diversion from the healthcare chain emerged.

Earlier this month, the feud between the brothers took an ugly turn when they allegedly came to blows, following which the younger brother Shivinder said the incident had closed any possibility of them working together to resolve the issues.

It reportedly aggravated further over payment of arbitration award to Daiichi Sankyo. Shivinder had offered to pay his share of the Rs 3,500 crore award to the Japanese drug maker in a dispute related to the acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories.

Earlier in September this year, Shivinder had filed a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), alleging that collective and ongoing actions of Malvinder and ex-Religare chief Sunil Godhwani led to a systemic undermining of the interests of companies and their shareholders.

Since February, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is investigating alleged fraud by Singh brothers.

With inputs from PTI.

First Published:Dec 19, 2018 9:51 PM IST