Church of the Churchless

RSSB guru ordered to appear before Delhi High Court on Nov. 14

UPDATE: A commenter shared a link to another story by Business Today on this subject that contains more information. There's a Delhi High Court order for all those involved in the financial fraud investigation to appear on November 14.

Daiichi case: Delhi HC orders RSSB chief Dhillon & family, Singh brothers, Ghodhwanis to be present in court on November 14

BusinessToday.In on March 12 reported Singh brothers could only pay the $500 million order against them to compensate Daiichi, provided the money owed to them by RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is recovered

BusinessToday.In

Delhi High Court has asked RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family members, former Religare promoters Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, former Religare chief Sunil Godhwani and his brother Sanjay Godhwani to be present at the court hearing in the Daiichi Sankyo case on November 14. The court has asked all accused to remain present in the court, along with all the documents relating to the dealings. "The garnishees shall also remain present in the Court on the next date of hearing along with all the documents relating to the dealings/transactions with the judgment debtors as well as their related companies on the next date of hearing," says the court order dated October 11.

Daiichi had earlier enforced an arbitration order in Singapore that ordered the brothers to pay Daiichi $500 million towards alleged non-disclosure of crucial information during the sale of Ranbaxy Laboratories to Daiichi in 2008.

Also read: Recover money from RSSB chief Dhillon & family to pay Singh brothers' dues to Daiichi: Delhi HC

Expanding the scope of people from whom the money could be recovered, the court in June had named 56 entities, including Dhillon, his wife Shabnam Dhillon and other family members, and Godhwanis.

BusinessToday.In had reported on March 12 that Singh brothers can only pay the $500 million order against them to compensate Daiichi, provided the money owed to them by RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family is recovered. In his submission, Malvinder has maintained that he can pay Daiichi provided he recovered the money owed to him.

Also read: SC take note! Singh brothers can pay off $500 million to Daiichi, provided the money is recovered

Besides the Dhillon family, the Delhi HC had also issued 'garnishee orders' -- an order that's issued against a third party to recover money to settle a debt or dues -- against several Dhillon and RSSB associates' companies, including Prius Real Estate, Addon Realty, Payne Realtors SGGD Projects, Luminous Holding.

BusinessToday.In had earlier reported the flow of money from Singh brothers to entities owned and controlled by Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family and RSSB associates. RoC filings and terms sheets say between 2011 and 2014, Rs 1,107.5 crore from the Rs 9,576 crore sale proceeds of Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo was paid through various RHC group firms. Thereafter, this money was transferred to Prius Real Estate Private Limited controlled by Dhillon family associates and RSSB functionaries through optionally convertible debentures (OCD).

Today The Economic Times of India ran this story concerning the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.
Download Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head 54 others to deposit Rs 6 000 crore

It doesn't appear to be good news for Dhillon and his family, who reportedly were the beneficiaries of hundreds of millions of dollars fraudulently siphoned from RHC Holding, a public company.

Delhi HC orders RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon to appear in court on Nov 14

The RSSB chief is among 55 individuals and entities ordered by the court to pay over Rs 6000 crore owed to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd in connection with the settlement of a dispute to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy laboratories.

Teena Thacker

The Delhi High Court has ordered Gurinder Singh Dhillon, chief of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) to be personally present in the court on November 14.

The order comes after he and his family members told the court that they do not owe any money to RHC Holding Pvt Ltd, promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The Dhillon had filed an application following the court’s direction to deposit the amount owed to RHC holdings pvt Ltd in connection with the execution of Rs 3500 crore arbitration award won by Japanese form Daiichi Sankyoagainst former Ranbaxy promoters. In his plea Dhillon had told the court that RHC Holding has made false claims.

Thereafter, in an order dated October 11 the court ordered Dhillon along with his wife Shabnam, sons Gurkirat and Gurpreet and daughter in law Nayan Tara to “remain present in the court with relevant documents related to their dealings and transactions with the garnishees and their related companies,” the order said. ET has accessed a copy of the order.

The Dhillon are among 55 individuals and entities ordered by the court to pay over Rs 6000 crore owed to RHC holding in connection with the settlement of a dispute to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy laboratoriesNSE 5.63 %.

Justice JR Midha in his earlier order had also stated that these entities cannot “dispose of, alienate, encumber directly or indirectly, part with the possession of any assets, except in the ordinary course of business like payment of salary and statutory dues, till the next date of hearing.”

According to an affidavit filed by RHC Holding in April, entities including those controlled by the RSSB chief, his family and close associates, owed over Rs 6,000 crore to the company and other group entities of the Singh brothers. Malvinder Singh, one of the directors of RHC, had maintained that payment of an arbitration award related to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy could be made only if the money owed was recovered.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Delhi police following money trail that could lead to RSSB guru and his family

Here's some fresh news on the Singh brothrers/RSSB guru (Gurinder Singh Dhillon) financial scandal saga.

A commenter on this blog just left a link to an Economic Times story that shows authorities are having success in tracing where the money ultimately went that was siphoned out of companies once controlled by the Singh brothers, and into companies that were partly or mostly controlled by the Dhillon family and their close associates.

Here's what the story says. I've boldfaced the mention of the RSSB guru.

A district court in Delhi extended the police custody of businessmen Malvinder and Shivinder Singh by two days in connection with fund diversion and misappropriation of funds pegged at about Rs 2,400 crore. The court will hear the case on October 17.

Claiming that they have found the “money trail” to some extent and wanted the custody be extended, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police filed a remand application in which it claimed that “during the police investigation the accused persons disclosed that the amount to the tune of Rs 1000 crore approximately was transferred from entities linked to corporate loan book”. ET has seen the copy. These entities are Modland Wears Pvt Ltd, Devara Developers Pvt Ltd, Fern Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Best Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Adept Lifespaces Pvt Ltd, Rosestar Marketing Pvt Ltd,” the application said.

“The amount has been transferred to various persons which has been transferred from the complainant company to these shell entities and finally the said amount was misappropriated/siphoned,” it further goes on to say.

The EOW said that they wanted the custody to be extended to “identify the persons to whom the amount was disbursed and to ascertain the purpose of giving the said amount”.

While the police custody has been extended for Singhs along with former REL chairman and managing director Sunil Godhwani, ex-Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL). Former CEO Kavi Arora and former REL CFO Anil Saxena were sent to judicial custody.

All five were arrested last week following a complaint by Religare Finvest Ltd. They were produced in a court in Saket on Tuesday afternoon.

The EOW has alleged that the accused “wilfully defaulted in repayments and caused wrongful loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore,” in its application filed in the court on 11 October. It also said that the funds were diverted to promoter related companies.

The police investigative agency sought extension of judicial remand for “sustained interrogation,” to find the trail of “cheated money” to ascertain the purpose of cheating, to confront the directors of shell entities and to ascertain the role of co-conspirators.

Malvinder Singh’s lawyer Manu Sharma said he was happy to note that the investigative agencies are heading in a right direction. He has been saying that the investigative agency should recover the money from the head Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

According to the FIR filed by the EOW, internal inquiries showed that the poor condition of the complainant company was to a large extent on account of wilful defaults on significant unsecured loans, defined for internal purposes as CLBs by borrower entities either related, controlled or associated with the promoters.

Malvinder's criminal complaint casts light on RSSB guru's alleged role in financial fraud

Given that the High Court of Delhi has ordered Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family to pay back money they owe to Religare, a company once controlled by the Singh brothers and Sunil Godhwani, I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at Malvinder Singh's criminal complaint against the Dhillon family, Godhwani, and others.

That complaint was filed in February of this year, I believe. I wrote about it in a February 20, 2019 blog post, "Legal filing against Gurinder Singh Dhillon is fascinating reading." 

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that anyone who doubts that Dhillon and his family received lots of money from shell companies should scroll to the attachments in Malvinder's criminal complaint. There you'll find a detailed accounting of the funds that went into the pockets of the Dhillon family, along with a signed message from the RSSB guru acknowledging his liabilities and the need to "work to settle the accounts." 

Recent stories in the Indian financial press have said that authorities are investigating possible co-conspirators in the massive financial fraud that has led to the arrest of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, plus Godhwani and a few others.

Naturally it is impossible to say how that investigation will play out.

But here's how I summarized parts of Malvinder Singh's criminal complaint, since it presents a persuasive argument for the culpability of the Gurinder Singh Dhillon in this financial mess. Read my original blog post for more details. 

Someone sent me a copy of the legal brief filed by Malvinder Singh against his cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas; the guru's wife and children; Malvinder's brother, Shivinder; and several cronies of the guru.

...This complaint has formed the basis for a number of stories in the Indian financial press (see here, here, and here). Now, obviously Gurinder Singh and the other people named in the complaint will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations of illegality. 

But the complaint is very much in line with comments left on this blog from 2010 to 2014 by someone in the know. I shared their 27,000 words in "Devastating criticism of Gurinder Singh Dhillon by a RSSB insider." So this is independent confirmation that the general tenor of what Malvinder Singh alleges in his complaint is true.

I strongly recommend reading the criminal complaint in full. Though the stories in the Indian financial press accurately reflect what is in the complaint, there's additional details in the complaint. And it is well-written in what I assume is the style of Indian legal documents of this sort.

...Sunil Godhwani was the guru's right-hand-man/close advisor for many years. Control of companies owned by the Singh brothers passed to Godhwani at the request of Gurinder Singh. This is the first mention of how Malvinder Singh viewed the guru as a spiritual guide, father figure, and mentor. Malvinder and Shivinder are initiates of Gurinder Singh, I'm pretty sure.

...This excerpt talks about how Godhwani wasn't running the companies on his own, but was in "consultation and conspiracy" with Gurinder Singh to cheat Malvinder.

...To understand this excerpt, we need to remember that the RSSB guru is considered by devotees to be God in human form. Hence, his advice and guidance can be trusted as divine. Malvinder says that he trusted Gurinder as his spiritual guru and believed "he can do no wrong." Almost certainly he can, though, as we'll see in the next sections of the complaint. 

...Shivinder is alleged to have spent a lot of time at the Dera (RSSB headquarters) working on a conspiracy to take money from RHC (a holding company formed by the Singh brothers with many subsidiaries) and shift the money to the guru, his relatives, and others -- leaving RHC with no assets but only liabilities, which obviously hurts Malvinder and other RHC shareholders.

...Via an audit, Malvinder learns that RHC is debt-ridden and wasn't a "going concern." This leads him to investigate what happened. He learns that his brother, Shivinder, hasn't engaged in any sort of normal business practices, which the complaint argues shows the fraudulent intent of acquiring various companies held by RHC.

...The complaint says that Malvinder learned that the RHC companies had loaned 1006 crores, which seems to be about $142 million US dollars, to Gurinder Singh, the guru's family, and other close associates of the guru.

...After listing the exact amounts of RHC loans that total to the $142 million, the complaint alleges that Godhwani, in collusion with Shivinder and Gurinder Singh, "intrinsically intertwined" the finances of the Dhillon family with the finances of the companies -- which, as noted above, had shareholders whose interests weren't served by taking money from RHC to give to the Dhillon's.

...Here's one of the motives (maybe the main motive) of Shivinder going to such lengths to funnel money into the pockets of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family. The guru had promised to make Shivinder the head of RSSB, taking Gurinder Singh's place, in exchange for forgiveness of the debts owed to RHC by the guru.

...This part of the complaint says that Shivinder, in connivance with Gurinder Singh, his family, and close associates fraudulently acquired six companies in order to hide from RHC shareholders what was going on, and to shield the people who had gotten loans from RHC from having to repay the money.

...Shivinder agrees to sign a "family settlement" that absolves Gurinder Singh Dhillon of wrongdoing or criminality. But Malvinder has objections to this, as detailed in some emails included in an appendix to the complaint. Again, Malvinder alleges that his brother, Shivinder, agreed to this "in his greed to become the next spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas."

...When Malvinder refuses to sign the settlement agreement, things get really nasty. Malvinder says that Gurinder Singh threatened that he would be eliminated by people from the Radha Soami Satsang, and warned him that the guru is a powerful person who has friends in high places.

...Malvinder states that he has recordings of the death threats made by Gurinder Singh and can make them available as and when desired. He also has received "veiled innuendos and threats" from other members of RSSB. Not surprisingly, this has put Malvinder "under immense mental pressure and trauma."

He's fearful for his life, saying that if anything happens to him this will be at the "behest of Sh. Gurinder Singh Dhillon and the other accused and those working under his influence."

...Here the complaint says that Shivinder Singh has refused to try to recover the loan money as part of "his evil design to effectively  try and write off the debt of the Dhillon Family."

...This isn't a victimless crime, because Fortis Healthcare will be affected, diluting the value of shares owned by investors, defrauding the public, and adversely impacting public confidence.

Commenting is good. Insulting is not.

I've added a "Commenting" link in the navigation bar at the top of this blog to remind people of my comment policies. They're pretty loose, but if you're wondering why a comment of yours wasn't approved, do some introspecting after you read the comment policy. 

Each guideline is important, but failure to follow the one about insults probably irritates me the most, because there is nothing more boring than simple-minded personal insults. They belong in middle school, maybe, but not elsewhere. Like I say...

It's boring to insult people in a comment. Don't do it. Stand up for issues, ideas, concepts, and such that you feel need discussing. But don't insult other commenters, or anyone else. Criticize what someone says or does, not the person themselves. 

Try to imagine you're in a person-to-person conversation. It is fine to say, "Hey, I disagree with what you're saying about ______. The way I see it is ______." It wouldn't be fine to say, "Hey, you're an idiot for saying _____. You should keep your mouth shut from now on." 

Malvinder's lawyer calls for arrest of RSSB guru

Following the arrest of Malvinder and Shivinder Singh by Delhi police for questioning about the diversion of funds from companies they once controlled,(see here and here), and the High Court of Delhi giving the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, along with others, 30 days to pay back $842 million to the Religare corporation, there's more fascinating news.

Likely reflecting what his client is telling authorities, Malvinder Singh's attorney had some harsh words for Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru. At one time the Singh brothers treated Dhillon, their relative, as both a father figure and trusted spiritual adviser on matters both financial and religious.

But now, according to a story in the Indian Express, things are very different. I've boldfaced the mentions of the RSSB guru and co-conspirators.

A day after they were arrested for alleged diversion of funds and causing a loss of Rs 2,397 crore to Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, former promoters of Religare Enterprises Ltd, were remanded in four-day police custody Friday.

Before they were led away with three others arrested with them, Malvinder’s counsel Manu Sharma told a Delhi court that his client did not have a “single penny” and that investigators were not arresting a “a person to whose doorstep the money leads as he is heading a great religious organisation”.

“This gentleman runs an entity called Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) trust. He’s a very powerful man and has high political relevance,” Sharma told the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat at the Saket courts complex in south Delhi.

At one stage, the Singh brothers were followers of the RSSB.

He said the FIR against Malvinder is an offshoot of a September 27 order of the Delhi High Court which ordered 55 entities and individuals, including RSSB chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family members and various companies owned by them or by RSSB associates, to pay dues of over Rs 3,000 to the Singh brothers.

“\After this (High Court) order was reported two days back, my client was detained on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday and arrested before his wife and daughter, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ludhiana,” Sharma told the court.

Besides Malvinder and Shivinder, the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police Thursday arrested Sunil Godhwani, former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena who held “important managerial positions in REL and RFL” for alleged diversion of public money “in clandestine manner for their own benefit.

Noting that “the offence is of very serious nature involving huge amount of siphoning of money”, CMM Sherawat ordered their police custody since it is “necessary to trace the trail of the cheated amount and find out the role of other persons who might have participated in conspiracy, and confrontation with other officials of RFL and REL”. He directed that the accused be produced in court again on October 15.

The court granted four-day police custody though the EOW had sought six days, saying they also needed to ascertain the role of co-conspirators.

Godhwani and Saxena did not oppose the police remand while Shivinder told the court that he himself was a victim of the fraud and would cooperate with the investigation in every possible manner.

Malvinder’s lawyer Sharma told the court that he had given an affidavit in the High Court saying the money was not with him. Maintaining that his client had been cooperating, he said: “I am a defenceless and a penniless man. The agency should arrest the RSSB chief who has not even been touched.”

Meanwhile, the RSSB chief and his family members moved the High Court Friday, saying they do not owe any money to RHC Holdings Pvt Ltd, promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder.

Malvinder Singh arrested by Delhi police. RSSB guru appeals High Court order.

The drama surrounding the financial fraud saga involving the Singh brothers, Sunil Godhwani, and a guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, has taken another turn with the arrest of Malvinder Singh (his brother, Shivinder, and Godhwani were arrested previously).

A LiveMint story describes the arrest.

New Delhi: In late night drama on Thursday, the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi police arrested former co-promoter of Religare Enterprises, Malvinder Mohan Singh, in Ludhiana (Punjab) for allegedly causing wrongful loss worth ₹2,397 crore to Religare Finvest Ltd, a senior Delhi police official said.

“He was nabbed in Punjab, and we are getting him to Delhi," a senior Delhi police official said about Malvinder Singh

An official statement from the Delhi Police will be available on Friday morning.

Malvinder Singh’s arrest comes hours after his younger brother Shivinder Singh, former Religare Enterprises chairman and managing director Sunil Godhwani, as well as two other officials from the companies were also arrested in the same case.

“The alleged persons, having absolute control of Religare Enterprises Ltd and its subsidiaries, put Religare Finvest Ltd in poor financial condition by way of disbursing loans to the companies having no financial standing and controlled by the alleged persons," the Delhi Police had said in the statement earlier on Thursday.

The accused, the Delhi police said, were arrested under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, banker, merchant or agent) and section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

The financial irregularities were flagged during independent audits by the Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Delhi Police said.

The arrests were made based on a complaint filed by Religare Enterprises arm Religare Finvest in December, when they alleged that the three had misappropriated funds of Religare Finvest to the tune of around ₹740 crore through loans to entities that were related to them or their associates.

Religare Finvest had also named N.K. Ghoshal, a long-time associate of promoters, along with directors of the promoter companies.

What strikes me about this sordid mess is what it reveals about the Singh brothers connection with their cousin, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

Following the death of Malvinder and Shivinder's father, Dhillon is reported to have become a father figure to them, acting of both a trusted financial advisor and spiritual guide. Shivinder even had hopes of becoming the next RSSB guru and became a sevadar (volunteer) for the organization.

Well, that didn't work out very well for them.

Stories in the Indian financial press show that Dhillon and his family were the prime beneficiaries of the money that was fraudulently taken from companies controlled by the Singh brothers.

So the big question now is whether Indian authorities will continue their investigation into how the financial manipulations were orchestrated and who benefitted from the illegally gotten funds.

The RSSB guru and his family have been ordered to repay within 30 days up to $842 million that doesn't belong to them.  

It's hard to believe, almost impossible, in fact, that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his wife, and sons simply looked at hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into their bank accounts and didn't ask, "Gosh, how is this happening?" Almost certainly, they were willing participants in the financial fraud.

After all, Dhillon is supposed to be God in Human Form, a Perfect Living Master, who I've heard is fond of saying "my way or the highway." Yet in this case defenders of the guru are claiming that he was a passive recipient of vast amounts of money and had nothing to do with how it was obtained.

Yeah, right. I don't believe this. I suspect that Indian authorities don't believe it either. 

UPDATE: The RSSB guru is claiming that he and his family don't owe any money to Religare. Well, as noted above, good luck with that argument. It'll be interesting to see if the High Court of Delhi buys it. The attorneys for RHC Holding, Singh brothers, and Daichi likely are already busy doing their best to refute that contention.

Probably Gurinder Singh Dhlllon had to take this step because he isn't able to repay what he and his family owe.

But the downside is that it puts a spotlight on the ultimate beneficiaries of the fraudulently-obtained money, and that could end up turning out badly for the Dhillons. Of course, it's impossible to predict how this Bollywood'ish drama will play out. Here's the Economic Times story.

NEW DELHI: Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) head Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family members Friday approached the Delhi High Court saying they do not owe any money to RHC Holdings Pvt Ltd, promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The Dhillons filed the application following the court's direction to deposit the amount due to RHC Holdings Pvt Ltd in connection with the execution of Rs 3,500-crore arbitral award won by Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo against former promoters of Ranbaxy LaboratoriesNSE 5.63 %Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

Dhillons told the court that RHC Holding has made false claims that they owe money to the company.

Justice J R Midha sought response of RHC Holding, Singh brothers and Daiichi on the plea of Dhillons.

The court, in its September order, said the amount which 55 garnishees, including Dhillon family, owe to RHC Holdings should be deposited with the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court within 30 days. A garnishee order is an order against a third party for the recovery of debt or dues.

 

ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like there could be even worse news for the Dhillon family, or at least for so-far unindicted co-conspirators. I've boldfaced some pertinent passages in this The Tribune story.

Former Fortis promoters Malvinder, Shivinder sent to police custody

New Delhi, October 11

A Delhi court on Friday granted the police four-day custody of former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh, his brother Shivinder and three others, arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), causing it losses of Rs 2,397 crore.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat allowed custodial interrogation of the five people who were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.

Malvinder (46) was arrested on Friday morning, while Shivinder (44), Sunil Godhwani (58), the former chairman and managing director of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), Kavi Arora (48) and Anil Saxena, who occupied important positions in REL and RFL, were arrested on Thursday by the EOW for allegedly diverting the money and investing in other companies.

The police sought the custodial interrogation of the accused saying it was necessary as they were allegedly involved in diversion of public money which needs to be tracked.

It further said that a lot of people are involved in the alleged cheating and misappropriation of the fund.

The police sought their custodial interrogation saying the accused have to be confronted with other officials to ascertain the role of co-conspirators and said that the money trail was to be found in the case which was at an initial stage of probe.

The counsel representing the accused opposed the Delhi police plea and said their custody was not required as the evidence is documentary.

The counsel for Malvinder said in the court that he has joined the probe and answered all the questions for which his custody was not required.

Malvinder told the court that he has given an affidavit before the high court saying the money was not with him.

Malvinder opposed the police plea claiming that he was being made a soft target, however, his brother Shivinder, representing himself, did not oppose the plea.

Shivinder told the court that he was himself a victim and was ready to help and cooperate in the investigation.

RFL is a subsidiary of the REL. Malvinder and Shivinder were earlier the promoters of REL.

The police had said that a look out circular (LOC) had been issued against Malvinder as he was absconding.

He was detained on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in Ludhiana and was formally arrested on Friday morning after he was brought here by the EOW team, Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) O P Mishra earlier told reporters.

The EOW had registered an FIR in March after it received a complaint from Manpreet Singh Suri of the 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,” Mishra alleged. PTI 

Here's a Bar & Bench story that contains the High Court order. It appears to be an enforcement of a May order against the same 55 garnishee parties, with the difference being that now they have to pay up within 30 days and provide a detailed description of all of their assets and income.

 

 

Singh Brothers and RSSB insider arrested. Bad news for RSSB guru.

Indian authorities are starting to arrest people involved with the financial scandal that has embroiled Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, Sunil Godhwani, and Gurinder Singh Dhillon, plus the Dhillon family, in a tangled web of fraud.

Here's how the Economic Times story starts out.
Download Shivinder Mohan Singh | Ranbaxy ex-promoter Shivinder Singh Sunil Godhwani arrested in fraud case

Shivinder Mohan Singh, the erstwhile promoter of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) was on Thursday arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi police, along with Sunil Godhwani, former chief of REL, among others following a complaint of misappropriation of funds of Religare Finvest Ltd, the lending arm of REL.

Malvinder Mohan Singh, the elder brother was not in Delhi and could not be arrested. It is learnt that a lookout notice has been issued against him. Both Malvinder and Shivinder were raided by the Enforcement Directorate in August this year. The brothers have been accused by Religare Finvest of fraud and misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs. 740 crore.

In December, a criminal complaint was filed by RFL with EoW against the Singh brothers, following which a case was filed against the brothers in May this year.

The Singh brothers are relatives of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. Malvinder has alleged that Dhillon and Godhwani conspired to siphon funds out of companies the Singh brothers controlled at the time along with Godhwani -- who reportedly was the guru's right hand man and managed the finances of RSSB. (The "Dera" is RSSB headquarters in the Punjab.)

Here's a description of his role from a Bloomberg story posted on the RSSB web site:

• Sunil Godhwani: The money man. Said to have been friends with the Dhillon family since childhood and to have grown up in the dera itself, Godhwani was managing the finances of the dera.

Further, the fraudulent funds apparently ended up in the pockets of Dhillon, his family, and close associates. In a separate legal matter, the Dhillon family and others have been ordered to pay back $842 million that, obviously, they aren't entitled to.

What happens next is unclear, but it's interesting to speculate. It's well known that authorities typically work their way up a fraudulent/criminal "food chain" by arresting and interrogating lower level people first, the goal being to get these people to implicate higher-ups.

There's no way to know if that is what is happening in this case. It sure seems possible, though. So in my opinion, Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family should be more worried today than they were yesterday about their legal culpability. 

RSSB guru and his family ordered to repay up to $842 million

Thanks to a comment left on a post today by a blog visitor, I learned that a financial noose is tightening around the necks of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family, who, along with others, have been ordered to pay 6,000 crore rupees to RHC Holding -- which equals $842 million.

UPDATE: Someone just sent me a photo of the print version of the story. 

Here's how an Economic Times story, "Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head, 54 others to deposit Rs 6,000 crore," starts out (HC refers to the High Court of Delhi in India).

Download Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head 54 others to deposit Rs 6 000 crore

NEW DELHI: Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the spiritual head of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), his family members and associates are among 55 individuals and entities ordered by a court to pay over Rs 6,000 crore owed to RHC Holding in connection with the settlement of a dispute related to Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories.

The Delhi high court ordered Dhillonʼs wife Shabnam, sons Gurkirat and Gurpreet and daughter-in-law Nayan Tara, among others, to pay up the amount due to RHC Holding, the flagship holding company of the Singh brothers who formerly owned Ranbaxy. Money will also be recovered from former Religare Enterprises chief Sunil Godhwani and his brother Sanjay Godhwani. The non-banking financial services conglomerate was formerly promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The amount should be deposited with the courtʼs registrar general within 30 days, according to the order dated September 27. Any party disputing the claim should file an affidavit to place their contention on record, Justice JR Midha said in the order, which ET reviewed. The entities cannot “dispose of, alienate, encumber directly or indirectly, part with the possession of any assets, except in the ordinary course of business like payment of salary and statutory dues, till the next date of hearing.”

Back in March I wrote a blog post based on reporting in the Indian financial press, "RSSB guru now faced with repaying $909 million in allegedly fraudulent loans." Excerpt:

I keep writing about this Indian financial saga, which could provide the plot for a great Bollywood movie, because it shows up so clearly the hypocrisy of many religious leaders.

The guru who leads a sect that teaches the goal of life is to purify the soul and mind so they can rise to higher spiritual regions has devoted himself to amassing worldly riches in a highly dubious manner, using his position as the head of RSSB to make himself rich. 

It'll be interesting to see if Malvinder succeeds in getting the money back from the RSSB guru and others. Hopefully he will. Gurus can't hold themselves above the law, even though their devotees often try to excuse their actions with a variety of unconvincing excuses: "It's God's will...this is a test of our faith...gurus work in mysterious ways...blah, blah, blah."

Well, it looks increasingly likely that Gurinder Singh Dhillon, his family, and close associates are going to have to come up with as much as $842 million by the end of October.

The exact amount to be gotten from these sources is a bit unsure, even though it seems clear that most (or all) of the 55 entities mentioned in the Economic Times story are connected to the RSSB guru in some fashion.

The big remaining question, after this huge amount of money is paid to RHC holding, is whether Dhillon, his family, and close associates got the money by fraudulent means, as has been alleged by Malvinder Singh. 

What we do know at this point is that the RSSB guru and his family have failed to repay money that they obtained through dubious "loans" (more like money siphoning) from the coffers of RHC Holding. So this demolishes the guru's undeserved reputation of being a Perfect Living Master, since his behavior doesn't even rise to the level of an average moral human who pays their bills on time.

Sunil Godhwani, by the way, used to be the guru's right-hand-man and managed financial affairs at the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Here's a description of his role from a Bloomberg story posted on the RSSB web site:

• Sunil Godhwani: The money man. Said to have been friends with the Dhillon family since childhood and to have grown up in the dera itself, Godhwani was managing the finances of the dera.

Godhwani has been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy. Godhwai became head of Religare Enterprises at the behest of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, after which Godhwani is alleged to have funneled money into the pockets of the guru and his family.  

For my birthday, I've giving myself death

OK, readers of this blog post title should refrain from contacting a suicide prevention hotline.

The form of death I've decided to give myself for my 71st birthday is writing another book comprised mostly of what I've already composed for my Church of the Churchless blog on the subject of death.

After publishing a book, "Break Free of Dogma," that consists of 93 early churchless blog posts (2004-06) on various subjects, I decided to give a theme-based book a try.

Death seemed like a great subject. Not cheery, but inevitable. 

I have no problem admitting to a fear of death. I understand why many people, including my wife, Laurel, say they aren't afraid of death, but rather of suffering in the course of dying.

That makes sense, since I'm afraid of that also. But the idea of not-existing for eternity after I die strikes me as decidedly dreadful also, not that I, or any other living being, has a choice in the matter. So many of my Church of the Churchless posts deal with the fear of non-existence.

I devoted a couple of hours today to seeing how many blog posts I could find that dealt with death. From November 2004 to March 2007, I copied in over 10,000 words of death-related posts. 

So, yay, it looks like I should be able to cobble together an interesting book just from what I've already written about death. And I can always write more on some aspect of death that has escaped my attention previously.

If anyone who comes across this post has written about dealing with the fear of death from a non-religious perspective, I'd be interested in reading whatever you've put together. Again, non-religious. I realize that believing in life after death is how most people cope with their eventual demise, but as an atheist I reject that approach.

My email address is in the right sidebar. Or, click here. Here's a link to a recent post I wrote about death, "Recognizing the reality of death is key to living life."

Our essence is more iike a spider web than a diamond

Take a look at these images. Which do you feel best describes your essence? Is the real you more like a complex spider web with lots of gossamer interconnections, or a simple unitary, unchanging diamond?

Most people have the feeling that they possess, or are, a core consciousness that often is termed the Self or Soul. This is the dominant religious philosophy, whether Western or Eastern (Buddhism and Taoism excepted).

So the goal of a "diamond" perspective is to get in touch with an unchanging essence that remains the same in the midst of an ever-changing world.

That perspective almost certainly is wrong. Modern neuroscience and psychology, along with the aforementioned Buddhist and Taoist teachings, hold that what we are is, to use a Buddhist term, empty of inherent existence.

In this context empty doesn't mean non-existent. Rather, it points to the fact of everything, including us, being part of a web of interconnections, causes and effects, relationships with countless other things.

Almost every guided meditation I listen to on Sam Harris' Waking Up iPhone app contains requests to look in a certain fashion. 

Look for the center of consciousness.
Look at that which is looking.

Finding nothing -- which is my experience, along with that of most meditators who attend to what is really there in one's psyche, rather than what is conceptually thought to be there -- is the point of the exercise.

Things simply appear and disappear in consciousness. There is no place from which we sit and observe what is transpiring within our awareness. The idea that there is, such as a mythical "eye center" or "third eye," is just another appearance in the spider web of consciousness.

I'm an avid reader in the fascinating area of modern neuroscience. The title of a cover story in the September 21, 2019 issue of New Scientist asks a big question, "What is consciousness?" 

Michael Graziano, the author of the article, has written a book called "Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience." Here's some quotes from his New Scientist piece.

Our attention schema theory explains why people think there is a hard problem of consciousness at all. Efficiency requires the quickest and dirtiest model possible, so the attention schema leaves aside all the little details of signals and neurons and synapses.

Instead, the brain describes a simplified version of itself, then reports this as a ghostly, non-physical essence, a magical ability to mentally possess items. 

Introspection -- or cognition accessing internal information -- can never return any other answer. It is like a machine stuck in a logic loop. The attention schema is like a self-reflecting mirror: it is the brain's representation of how the brain represents things, and is a specific example of higher order thought.

In this account, consciousness isn't so much an illusion as a self-caricature.

OK, if that isn't crystal clear, and I'm sure it isn't, let's take a look at a seemingly related conception of consciousness in a book that was the subject of my previous post, "The Feeling of Life Itself," by Christof Koch.

According to integrated information theory (IIT), consciousness is determined by the causal properties of any physical system acting upon itself. That is, consciousness is a fundamental property of any mechanism that has cause-effect power upon itself.

...The theory takes the five phenomenological axioms of experience that I introduced in the first chapter -- any experience exists for itself, is structured, is the specific way it is, is one, and is definite -- and formulates for each one an associated causal postulate, a requirement that any conscious system has to obey.

The theory reveals or unfolds the intrinsic causal powers of any system that obeys all five postulates. These causal powers can be represented as a constellation of points (distinctions) linked by lines (relations).

According to IIT, these causal powers are identical to conscious experience, with every aspect of any possible conscious experience mapping one-to-one onto aspects of this causal structure. Everything is accounted for on either side.

All these causal powers, including their degree of intrinsic existence, can be evaluated in a systematic fashion, that is, algorithmically. Figure 8.1 illustrates this structure by way of a visual metaphor, a byzantine tangled spider web.

Koch ends that chapter with an apt observation: "If you've made it through this chapter, congratulations, as the covered material stretches anyone's mind." For sure.

After I finish his book, I'll try to summarize this spider web'y theory in (hopefully) my own understandable language.