Former Fortis Healthcare promoter Malvinder Singh to stay under judicial custody till January 6: Court

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday extended the judicial custody of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Malvinder Singh and a co-accused by two weeks in a money laundering case related to alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL). Besides Malvinder, the court remanded Sunil Godhwani, former CMD of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), to judicial custody till January 6 next year.

Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav passed the order after the probe agency said judicial custody of the accused was required as further investigation was going on in the case.

The agency had taken both into custody on November 14 from Tihar jail, where they had been lodged in a case filed by the Delhi Police in relation to the alleged scam.

ED's Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana had earlier said that Singh and Godhwani have been accused of laundering money, punishable under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

RFL is a group firm of REL, which was earlier promoted by Malvinder and his brother Shivinder Singh.

Earlier, Singh and Godhwani were in judicial custody along with Malvinder's brother Shivinder and two others -- Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena -- in a case filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.

The ED alleged that both the brothers, along with others, transferred an amount of about Rs 1,000 crore to various persons from entities linked to the corporate loan book and finally, the money was siphoned off.

The agency started its investigation in the matter on the basis of a case lodged by the Delhi Police.

Malvinder (46), Shivinder (44), Godhwani (58), Arora (48) and Saxena were arrested by EOW for allegedly diverting the money and investing in other companies.

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The EOW registered an FIR in March 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 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.

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