The ongoing Religare Enterprises’ acquisition tussle between Burman Brothers and Rashmi Saluja has taken an interesting turn. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now registered an FIR naming Saluja, the Executive Chairperson of REL, and other senior Religare Officials (Nitin Agarwal and Nishant Singhal) for cheating and criminal conspiracy. 

They have been named in the FIR for their alleged role in a “false” case with serious allegations against the Burmans of the Dabur group, and also through this move making unlawful benefits to the tune of  ₹179 crore.

The ED’s FIR has listed charges under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) against Saluja, group CFO Nitin Agarwal, and President and General Counsel Nishant Singhal.

The FIR relates to the ED’s probe in a case of alleged money laundering against former REL directors Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh, and others, filed by a company shareholder Vaibhav Jalinder Gawali. 

The complainant alleged misappropriation of REL assets by Malvinder and Shivinder, in connivance with the Burmans, who are also shareholders, and others.

The FIR states that when the ED was recording his statement on August 12, Gawali allegedly denied having documentary proof to substantiate his claims. He also claimed that facts mentioned in his case were based on alleged directions given to him by Saluja, the latest FIR noted. 

Also, Gawali claimed that Saluja, Agarwal and Nishant had allegedly given him ₹1.2 lakh to purchase 500 shares of REL and ₹80,000 to file a complaint against the Burmans. The FIR, which was recorded under PMLA section 50, noted that the ED analysed Gawali’s account and allegedly found that it corroborated his claims of having received money.

Religare Enterprises did not respond to BusinessLine’s email seeking Saluja’s comment on the latest ED FIR. 

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