Former CMD of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL), Sunil Godhwani, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate as well as the Delhi police for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), Thursday sought interim bail from a Delhi court claiming that he was suffering from various ailments.
The case came for hearing before Additional Sessions Judge Vipin Kumar Rai and the ED opposed the bail plea, saying the accused may flee from justice and "if there is any medical condition, the jail authorities will take care of it."
The court will further hear the matter on Friday.
Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for the accused, submitted that he was suffering from various ailments including those related to sleep disorder and he was required to be taken extra care and for that purpose the relief was required.
ED's special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana opposed the grounds raised by the accused for the grant of bail.
The case also involves former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh and his brother Shivinder, who are currently in judicial custody.
RFL is a group firm of REL, which was promoted earlier by the Singh brothers.
Malvinder (46), Shivinder (44) and Godhwani (58) were arrested by the EOW of Delhi Police for allegedly diverting the money and investing in other companies. Later, the ED took their custody.
The EOW had earlier told the court that during the course of investigation, it has been disclosed by the accused persons that an amount of approximately Rs 1,000 crore has been transferred to various persons from the entities linked to corporate loan book and finally it was siphoned off.
Religare has accused the three, along with others, of diverting funds, claiming that loans were taken by Shivinder while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.
The counsel for Malvinder had earlier told the court that the money was with Radha Soami head Gurinder Singh Dhillon but the police was not going after him since he had political connections and that Malvinder was being made a soft target.
The police had said that a look out circular (LOC)had been issued against Malvinder as he was absconding.
The EOW had registered an FIR in March after it received a complaint from Manpreet Suri of RFL against Shivinder, Godhwani and others alleging that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.
According to the police, the complainant stated that the four had absolute control on REL and its subsidiaries.
"They put RFL in poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies having no financial standing and being controlled by them. The companies to which loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused a loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore," police had alleged.
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