The relationship between the Singh brothers, erstwhile promoters of Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy, went sour after allegations of fund diversion from the healthcare chain emerged
New Delhi: As the feuding former Fortis and Ranbaxy promoters, the Singh brothers, reportedly came to blows, younger brother Shivinder Singh on Friday said the latest incident closes all options for any possible solution to work together with his elder sibling, Malvinder Singh.
In the latest twist to their fight, Malvinder Singh in a video circulated on social media had claimed that he was hit by Shivinder.
The incident reportedly happened on Wednesday as Shivinder was trying to disrupt the board meeting of group company Prius Real Estate, which he claimed lent around ₹ 2,000 crore to companies owned by Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family.
The younger brother in a statement denied the claim and said: “This is false and a shameless attempt to cast doubts on my integrity."
“It has been clear to me for some time that Malvinder and I cannot work together. The gulf between our value systems is clearly too wide. This latest incident closes all options for any possible solution to work together."
Shivinder said on December 5, he visited “the office for a scheduled extraordinary general meeting (EGM). On arriving, I was concerned to find out that one of the directors had left the ongoing board meeting due to unnecessary intimidating tactics being adopted by the (only) other board member, Malvinder’s relative".
He added: “It appeared that Malvinder was trying to coerce some employees to video record statements under duress. Concerned for the well-being of the employees, I entered the room to understand what was going on."
“Angered on seeing him there", he added, “Malvinder attempted to forcibly restrain me and pinned me to the wall choking me. I tried to push him away in self-defence."
Shivinder said he even made a made a police complaint, which was later withdrawn following intervention of the family to keep issues private.
Earlier, showing off a bruise on his forearm, Malvinder said: “He (Shivinder) injured me here. He broke this button and he gave me a bruise here, he bruised me here. He kept threatening me and refused to budge until the team here separated him from me."
When contacted, Malvinder declined to comment.
The relationship between the Singh brothers, erstwhile promoters of Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy, went sour after allegations of fund diversion from the healthcare chain emerged. It reportedly aggravated further over payment of arbitration award to Daiichi Sankyo. Shivinder had offered to pay his share of the ₹ 3,500 crore award to the Japanese drug maker in a dispute related to the acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories.
Earlier in September this year, Shivinder had filed a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), alleging that collective and ongoing actions of Malvinder and ex-Religare chief Sunil Godhwani led to a systemic undermining of the interests of companies and their shareholders.
He had also alleged that his elder brother Malvinder forged his wife’s signature, perpetrated illegal financial transactions and led the company into an unsustainable debt trap.
Later, on September 14, the petition was withdrawn by Shivinder from the NCLT on his mother’s advice.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
