Supreme Court lets a forensic audit of its dealings in the Daiichi case go ahead

What happened

• On 25 September 2026, the Supreme Court disposed of Fortis Healthcare's petition and declined to interfere with a Delhi High Court order for a forensic audit of Fortis transactions linked to the fall in the Singh brothers' shareholding.
• The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana said the High Court's observations in its 31 August order were tentative, and that the audit must be carried out independently of them.
• The audit arises from Daiichi Sankyo's efforts to enforce a 2016 arbitration award against the former promoters, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.
• In a statement to the stock exchanges, Fortis said it was not a party to that dispute, received no benefit from any transfer of the Singh brothers' shares, and had no power to stop those transfers. It said its current investor, Northern TK Venture, bought newly issued shares in November 2018 rather than existing ones.

Why it matters

The ruling clears the way for the audit ordered by the Delhi High Court. In court, Fortis argued that it was neither a party to the arbitration nor a judgment debtor, and that as a listed company with about 2.5 lakh public shareholders it could not block share transfers.

Good to know: A forensic audit is a detailed check of a company's records and transactions, usually to trace where money or assets went. It is separate from the regular yearly audit of the accounts.

Key facts

Ruling

25 Sep 2026, Supreme Court

Audit ordered by

Delhi High Court

Read the source

• SC allows forensic audit of Fortis deals in Daiichi-Singh brothers rowBusiness Standard
• Fortis defends itself after SC allows forensic auditANI