ED files FIR against Religare chief Rashmi Saluja, gives clean chit to Burman family

The ED said its investigation found that REL shareholder Vaibhav Gawali was paid Rs 2 lakh by company officials to file the FIR against the Burman family.

Rashmi Saluja (File photo)

In a major indictment of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) chairman Rashmi Saluja, the Enforcement Directorate has filed an FIR accusing her of criminal conspiracy to derail the takeover of REL by the Burman family, which owns Dabur.

The ED has alleged that Saluja and other senior officials of REL motivated one of its shareholders – Vaibhav Jalinder Gawali – to file an FIR in Matunga Police station in Mumbai alleging misappropriation of the company's assets/properties by former directors Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh in connivance with the Burman family. The Burman family holds 25% in REL allowing them to go for an open offer to acquire 26% more shares in the company.

The ED FIR alleged that the complainant lacked in-depth understanding of the facts pertaining to the case and that he was given prepared material by senior officials of REL to lodge the FIR. The ED said its investigation found that Gawali was paid Rs 2 lakh by REL officials to file the FIR against the Burman family.

The ED said its investigation revealed that current officials of REL including Saluja were behind the lodging of the FIR to derail the proposed takeover of the company and its subsidiaries and obfuscate the detection of illegal gains accrued to them through acquisition of employee stock options (ESOPs) of Care Health Insurance (CHIL).

CHIL is the insurance arm of Religare Enterprises. The board of CHIL had approved granting 2.3 crore shares to Saluja as ESOPs at Rs 45.32 a piece. However, the insurance regulator – Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) – had rejected the ESOPs granted to Saluja.

The CHIL board in August 2022 again approved the grant of 2.7 crore shares as ESOPs to Saluja again at the same price of Rs 45.32. In the same meeting, the board approved issuance of rights shares at Rs 110 a piece.

ED says REL money was used to buy shares at higher price in order to fulfill the criteria for the vesting of ESOPs without paying attention to the price disparities.