In his petition before the National Company Law Tribunal in New Delhi, Shivinder Singh has leveled the following charges against elder brother Malvinder Singh and former Religare CEO Sunil Godhwani:
That they ruined Fortis
"I took public retirement to my spiritual home, Beas to serve my Master, in 2015; leaving the thriving company I founded in 'trusted' hands and in a period of less than two years, it has moved towards disintegration and ruin of a national healthcare asset," says Shivinder's petition.
Malvinder took decisions on behalf of family
"I have all along been the publicly supportive younger brother to Malvinder's Chairmanship of the group, who took decisions on behalf of the family."
Malaise was systemic
"Decisions taken in Religare's NBFC arm; the transaction and subsequent management of the sale of the group's then flagship - Ranbaxy to Daiichi, culminating in one of the most damaging arbitration cases in the history of India Inc., the unimaginable losses accumulated in running a private charter airline business (Ligare Aviation), all these only go to show that the malaise is systemic."
Ethics compromised
"I can no longer be party to activities in which transparency and ethics are continuously and consistently negated."
Shivinder concludes that he is disassociating from Malvinder as a business partner and that he will be pursuing an independent path for himself.
Flash back to 2008 when right after the sale of India's largest pharma firm, Ranbaxy Laboratories to Japan's Daiichi-Sankyo, the brothers were loaded with nearly Rs 10,000 crore in cash. By 2018, they were in debt of Rs 13,000 crore. How they squandered Rs 22,500 crore, lost control of prized possessions such as Fortis Healthcare, once the country's largest hospital chain, and one of the largest NBFCs Religare Enterprises - all in a span of less than a decade has been a subject of business chatter. (Here's how it happened: The Baba, Singh Brothers and the Squandered Rs 225,00,00,00,000)
Interestingly, just last week the brothers had issued a joint statement which blamed former Religare CEO Sunil Godhwani for allegedly orchestrating transactions that left them with a 'debt load'.