Fortis Healthcare: Now Singh brothers to battle it out at NCLT

Founders of Fortis Healthcare Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh are now at loggerheads, with the younger brother Shivinder taking elder brother Malvinder and ex-Chairman of Religare, Sunil Godwani to court alleging mismanagement of the company.

Shivinder Singh has dissociated from Malvinder as a business partner, blaming him and Godwani for oppression and the crisis at the Group companies.

In February, the Singh brothers had to resign from Fortis board due to the litigation they were facing following the Ranbaxy deal. The Japanese drugmaker Daichii Sankyo, who had brought Ranbaxy from Singh brothers, sued them for misrepresentation of USFDA investigation of the company. Daichii is seeking Rs. 3,500 crore arbitration award from the duo.

The Singh brothers are also suspected of syphoning-off funds Rs. 500 crore from Fortis books through inter-corporate loans (ICDs). The company announced on Tuesday that it will bring in an external agency to scrutinize its internal controls and compliances framework. Also, the company's CFO Gagandeep Singh Bedi resigned on August 31.

In August, the shareholders of Fortis Healthcare approved the sale of their company to Malaysia-based IHH Healthcare for US$1.1 billion.

Meanwhile, at 10:47 hours, the stock of Fortis Healthcare was trading at Rs. 144.85 per share, down by 1.36 per cent on Wednesday. The stock has been losing for the last two days and has dipped -2.28 per cent in the period.