Daiichi Sankyo vs Singh Bros: Delhi HC directs former Religare Chief, Radha Soami head to pay up

The Delhi High Court has directed fifty-five garnishee parties to deposit the amount due to Malvinder and Shivinder Singh’s RHC Holding with the Registrar General of the Court in connection with the ongoing execution proceedings in the Daiichi Sankyo arbitration case.

The order which was passed by a Single Judge Bench of Justice JR Midha reads,

“The parties mentioned in serial No. 1 to 55 … are directed to deposit the amount due to respondent No.19 (RHC Holding) with the Registrar General of this Court within 30 days. If any party disputes the claim of respondent No.19 or other judgment debtors, the affidavit be filed to place on record their contention.”

In the meantime, the fifty-five garnishees have been directed to not dispose of, alienate, encumber either directly or indirectly or otherwise part with the possession of any assets which are mentioned in their affidavit submitted to the Court. The parties can utilize their assets to carry out the ordinary course of business such as payment of salary and statutory dues till the next date of hearing, it is clarified.

These fifty-five garnishee parties include former Religare CMD, Sunil Godhwani and brother Sanjay Godhwani, spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his wife and sons.

The Court has also directed the Singh Brothers and other judgement debtors in the case to file fresh affidavits with respect to their assets. It has also directed them to not dispose of, alienate, encumber either directly or indirectly or otherwise part with the possession of any assets in the meantime.

On January 31 last year, Justice Jayant Nath of the Delhi high court had upheld the enforceability of a Rs 3500 crore arbitration award passed by a Singapore Tribunal.

The tribunal had found the Singh brothers and others guilty of several counts of misconduct when Daiichi bought their 34.82% stake for $2.4 billion in 2008. The Singh brothers and twelve others were found to have made false claims in a self-assessment report, along with misrepresenting the genesis, nature, and severity of the US regulatory investigations into Ranbaxy.

Soon after the execution proceedings were initiated, the Singh brothers had a public falling out last year. Shivinder blamed his elder brother, Malvinder for the fall of the Fortis empire as he claimed that he had “renounced the world” to stay with his spiritual guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Shivinder had even dragged Malvinder to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), accusing him of mismanagement and oppression, and sought to remove him from the management of RHC Holding Pvt Ltd. The case was withdrawn after their mother’s intervention.

Earlier this year, Religare Enterprises unit even lodged a with the Delhi Police accusing the Singh brothers, Sunil Godhwani and others of cheating, fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune of ₹ 740 crore.

The matter would be taken up next on November 14.

Daiichi Sankyo was represented by Senior Advocate Arun Kathpalia with Advocates Mohit Singh, Samridhi Hota, Kanika Singhal, Turab Ali Kazmi, Kunal Chatterji, Aditya Shankar and Rohan Jaitley.

RHC Holding was represented by Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal with Advocates Varun Mishra.

Read the Order: