Former Religare MD detained at airport

NEW DELHI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has detained Sunil Godhwani, former managing director of Religare. The EOW had in February registered a case against him as well as Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh — erstwhile promoters of Religare Enterprises (REL) — on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust.

Godhwani was on his way to London when he was detained at the Delhi airport. He is now being questioned at the EOW office. Additional CP (EOW) Suvashish Chaudhary said that they took Godhwani into custody as the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had issued a lookout notice against him in the Fortis-Religare fraud case.

Former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder had levelled allegations that his elder brother Malvinder and Godhwani had conspired to divert around Rs 740 crore from Religare Finvest (RFL), which is an REL subsidiary. They also allegedly redirected Rs 473 crore from Fortis Healthcare to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd, the holding company of the Singh brothers.

Moreover, RFL had lodged a criminal complaint with the EOW against its promoters Malvinder and Shivinder. The complaint named Godhwani, among other directors, on charges of cheating, fraud and misappropriation of funds of Rs 740 crore. The complaint also names N K Ghoshal and the directors and officers of the promoter entities and other unknown persons.

“We had registered an FIR under appropriate sections of the IPC and had put out a notice against all those whose names were mentioned. A watch has also been mounted on all of them,” a senior police officer said.

REL had also submitted a report of their internal inquiry to the EOW, on the basis of which further inquiries were conducted. After this, the SFIO was requested to issue a notice against Godhwani and the others to prevent them from leaving the country.