India News | Siphoning of RFL Funds of 2,397 Cr; SC Asks Delhi Police to Conclude Probe by Month End
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Supreme Court Thursday asked Delhi Police to conclude probe by the month end in a case against former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh who along with others is accused of misappropriating Rs 2,397 crore of Religare Finvest Ltd funds.
New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court Thursday asked Delhi Police to conclude probe by the month end in a case against former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh who along with others is accused of misappropriating Rs 2,397 crore of Religare Finvest Ltd funds.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana asked Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police, to conclude the probe by November end and said that it may request for further time if investigation is not concluded.
“This is a magistrate triable case. How long an accused can be kept in jail and fairness has to be there,” said the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli when the counsel for the complainant referred to the gravity and involvement of huge public money in the case.
Over 2,300 crore of public money is involved and there have been judgements which say that the gravity of the offence has to be considered while considering the bail plea of the accused, said senior advocate R Basant, appearing for the complainant in the case.
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“Adjourned at the request of K M Nataraj...so as to enable the Investigating Agency to complete the investigation, in the meanwhile. List the matter on December 2,” the bench said in the order.
The top court, which wanted to remand the case to the Delhi High Court for re-adjudication on October 25, kept it for hearing before itself after the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police referred to the gravity of the offence.
“I do not want to make comments but the government (police) is taking much interest,” the CJI had orally observed.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Singh, referred to the records to allege that Delhi Police had on February 9, 2021 said that the probe with respect to Singh had concluded, but now they want four more months to investigate further.
In May, the Delhi High Court cancelled Singh's bail, noting that his detention was necessary to unearth the “conspiracy hatched by him" and trace the alleged siphoned off money. The EOW recently gave the timeline and said that it would need four more months to complete the probe in the fund embezzlement case.
"How much time should it take to complete the investigation? It cannot be an unending story," the bench had observed while asking the police to give a timeline for concluding the probe.
The counsel for Singh had said that he has been in jail for the last two years and moreover, his custody is not needed for the investigation as two charge sheets have already been filed.
Delhi Police has said it needs four more months to conclude the investigation if unforeseen circumstances do not hit the ongoing probe, the bench said after perusing the police report.
The high court order, cancelling the bail, was passed on a plea by Religare challenging the March 3 order of the trial court granting bail to Singh in the case registered against him by the EOW under charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.
Singh has moved the top court against the Delhi High Court cancelling the bail granted to him by the trial court in the case.
The EOW registered an FIR in March 2019 after a complaint from RFL's Manpreet Suri against Shivinder, former CMD of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) Sunil Godhwani and former CEO of RFL Kavi Arora and others, alleging that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.
According to the prosecution, RFL's authorised representative Manpreet Suri alleged that these accused put RFL in poor financial condition by disbursing loans to entities having no financial standing and wilfully defaulted on repayments, causing it a loss of Rs 2,397 crore.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)