Religare case: SFIO gets HC’s nod to quiz Singh Brothers, others

New Delhi, Dec 25 : The Delhi High Court has granted permission to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to quiz former Religare Promoters Malvinder and Shivender Mohan Singh and the other accused in the Religare fraud case.
“… the officials of the petitioner (SFIO) are granted permission to interrogate and examine the respondents,” said a single judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru while allowing a petition filed by the investigating agency seeking permission to interrogate the accused persons in judicial custody.
The bench further said that the SFIO shall complete the same within a period of two weeks, commencing on January 1.
It also said that the SFIO to “ensure that the team of its officials deputed to examine or interrogate the respondents does not exceed three in number”.
The observations were made while the court was hearing a plea filed by the SFIO challenging the order of the trial court dated September 22, which had dismissed its agency’s application seeking permission for the examination of the accused in a pending investigation into the affairs of Religare Enterprises Ltd.
Former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh, his brother Shivinder Singh, former REL CMD Sunil Godhwani, and others including Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena were arrested in the case by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) last year, for allegedly diverting Religare Finvest Ltd’s money and investing it in other companies.