)
Trimulgherry police of Hyderabad had arrested Schlipf from New Delhi in a case booked against him by a BMW dealer and produced him before a local court on Friday, which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.
BMW Group India stated on Saturday that Schlipf was arrested in connection with a law suit filed by Delta Cars Private Limited, which had been a BMW dealer in Hyderabad from June 2007 to December 2009.
The dealership agreement expired on December 31, 2009 in the absence of a further term renewal. As a consequence, Delta Cars filed lawsuits in 2010 against BMW India Private Limited.
Taking a strong objection to the arrest of Schlipf, BMW stated that he was not present in India during the period of the dispute. Schlipf was appointed as managing director of BMWFSIL on April 14, 2013. During the period of allegations, he was employed in BMW Bank GmBH and was based out of Munich.
"Till yesterday, Dr Schlipf has never been accused in the lawsuit. The company considers this incident as completely unacceptable", BMW said.
According to the police, the case was referred by a local court following a complaint filed by Delta Cars. The complainant had reportedly alleged that BMWFSC had dumped BMW cars on the dealer, which could not be sold. Consequently, the dealer had to incur huge losses.
BMW Group India, however, said that neither the company nor any of its directors had "engaged in any wrong doings and the company is taking necessary legal action".
