Supreme Court asks Malvinder, Shivender Singh to be present in court on March 14

NEW DELHI: Bothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh will have to appear personally in the Supreme Court on March 14 in connection with a contempt case filed by Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo, which has accused them of disposing of their assets in violation of a court order.

Daiichi had moved Indian courts for implementation of a Rs 3,500-crore arbitration award against the Singh brothers. The Japanese company won the award after claiming that the brothers hid information about regulatory probes against Ranbaxy Labs when they sold the local drug maker to it in 2008.

The brothers, Daiichi alleged in the top court, were disposing of their unencumbered assets to divert funds that could have been used to pay the arbitration award. The reference was the alleged attempts to sell their stake in Fortis Health to a Malaysian company. The top court had earlier issued notices on the plea and imposed a status quo on the sale of stake by the Singh brothers. Fortis sold a 31.1% stake in the company to IHH Healthcare in November through a preferential allotment of shares. Daiichi has been trying to implement the arbitration award through Indian courts.