Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) Executive Chairperson Dr. Rashmi Saluja, Group CFO Nitin Agarwal, and President and General Counsel Nishant Singhal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. This follows the Mumbai police's filing of a First Information Report (FIR) on September 6, based on a complaint from the ED.
Officials have clarified that neither the Burman Group nor former Religare promoters Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, or the Burman family, have been given a clean chit by the financial probe agency. The case will remain open until the police close it based on the ED's complaint, at which point the ECIR will also be closed.
The ED’s ECIR alleges that the accused obtained benefits worth ₹179 crore by acquiring Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) at significantly reduced prices. The report also accuses Dr. Rashmi Saluja of filing a case against Dabur Group Chairman Mohit Burman and his family to obstruct a proposed takeover of REL and its subsidiaries. Additionally, the complaint claims that funds from REL were diverted to participate in a rights issue of Care Health Insurance Limited (CHIL), facilitating financial gains.
Officials have indicated that the ED will soon summon Dr. Rashmi Saluja and other executives from Religare Enterprises Ltd to join the investigation next week.
The ECIR based on Mumbai Police FIR details that after the IRDAI rejected an initial ESOP grant request, the CHIL board approved a second grant of 2,72,11,327 shares to Dr. Rashmi Saluja at Rs 45.32 per share on August 2, 2022. These ESOPs were set to vest in three equal tranches. At the same meeting, a rights issue was proposed to raise up to Rs 300 crore by issuing 2,72,72,727 shares at Rs 110 each, which Saluja proposed on behalf of REL and was accepted by CHIL’s board.
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The ED has classified this as unlawful gains, alleging that REL's funds were used to buy shares at the inflated price of Rs 110 to meet ESOP vesting conditions, while the ESOPs were granted at a significantly lower rate. The rights issue, held from August 24, 2022, to September 29, 2022, saw REL invest Rs 192 crore out of Rs 250 crore raised, with Saluja and Nitin Aggarwal as key decision-makers. It remains unclear if REL’s shareholders approved this investment
