Religare's former CMD Sunil Godhwani denied bail

New Delhi, Jan 30 A Delhi court has rejected the bail application of Religare Enterprises Ltd's former Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Godhwani in connection with alleged misappropriation of Rs 2,300 crore.

Godhwani, who was held by the Delhi Police in 2019 from the airport, had sought bail plea on health grounds, saying he was a senior citizen and was suffering from several diseases.

"Allegations against the accused are that he is involved in the illegal transfer of huge loan amounts of Rs 2,000 crore. Public money is involved in the case. Economic offences are considered to be grave specially when public money is involved. We have to be careful while granting bail in such cases," Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma said while rejecting the bail plea.

The court also noted that the accused was arrested from the airport and there possibilities of his fleeing from the justice. There was also possibilities that he could tamper with the evidence, it added.

Godhwani allegedly hatched a conspiracy and transferred an amount of Religare Finvest Ltd, a group firm of Religare, to other entities which never repaid the loan. Thus, the company suffered huge loss of Rs 2,397 crore.

The authorised representative of Religare approached the Delhi Police after which an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Malvinder Mohan Singh, Shivinder Mohan Singh, Godhwani and other as main accused in the case. It was alleged in the FIR that the accused diverted the company's money for their personal gain.

The Reserve Bank of India, in its analysis, had also raised questions on the sanctioning of thew loan.

The police said that the RBI had mentioned that those who took loan from the RFL under the corporate loan book were related to each other.