The Supreme Court today held ex-Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh guilty of contempt of court in an arbitral award enforcement case filed by Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo.

The bench of Chief Justice Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta also said that Malvinder and Shivinder Singh can get purge the contempt on deposit of Rs 1,175 crores each.

The judgment was reserved in the plea on April 11, 2019.

A suo moto contempt proceeding hs also been initated by the court against Fortis Healthcare for violating the stay on deal with IHH Healthcare.

The contempt order came in the light of the Singh Brothers divesting their shares in Fortis Healthcare Limited, despite a previous court order prohibiting the same.

The controlling stake in the Fortis Healthcare was sold to IHH Healthcare by the two brothers, jeopardizing the execution of the arbitral award of Rs. 3,500 crore granted to Daiichi Sankyo by a Singapore arbitration tribunal.

The arbitration award was challenged by the Singh brothers in Delhi High Court but the same was dismissed and the brothers were asked to pay up.

The brothers had resigned from the board of directors of Fortis Healthcare soon after the judgment.

Malvinder and Shivinder Singh are currently jailed after the Delhi Police (EOW) arrested them and some others on a funds diversion complaint in Religare Finvest Ltd.

— India Legal Bureau