The Supreme Court said Shivinder Mohan Singh was a flight risk
Former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's interim bail plea in a money laundering case has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Mr Singh faces corruption charges including alleged funds misappropriation at Religare Finvest Ltd.
Taking note of "serious allegations" and Mr Singh being a "flight risk", the Supreme Court rejected the interim bail plea.
The Delhi High Court has already refused bail to Mr Singh, who had then gone to the Supreme Court against the high court order.
In today's Supreme Court hearing, Mr Singh through his lawyer, Gopal Jain, said the plea was a humanitarian one as "my uncle has passed away and my mother had a stroke."
To this, Justice MR Shah replied, "Last time it was someone's death."
The Supreme Court bench also comprised Justice BV Nagarathna.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Delhi Police, said Mr Singh is an accused whose liabilities are worth Rs 2,400 crore. "He's a flight risk...This should not be swayed because of humanitarian grounds. There appears to be something suspicious here. Another case against him is pending before the Justice AM Khanwilkar-led bench," Mr Mehta said.
"I appeal for sympathy," the businessman's lawyer said.
The Solicitor General replied, "I don't think he deserves sympathy here."
In its order, the Supreme Court said that due to the serious allegations, "it seems that if the petitioner is released on interim bail, he may pose to be a flight risk," and rejected the application for interim bail.
A case was filed against Mr Singh by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing for alleged cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust in March 2019 after it got a complaint from Religare Finvest's Manpreet Suri.
Mr Suri alleged that Mr Singh, former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Ltd Sunil Godhwani, former chief executive of Religare Finvest Kavi Arora and others took loans while running the company, but instead diverted the funds to other firms.
The police said Mr Singh and the others created a corporate loan book to take company funds for personal use and the sanctioning authority didn't follow the corporate loan policy.