Missing Wolverhampton businessman Ranjit Singh Power 'owed more than £1m'
A hotelier from Wolverhampton who went missing in India owed more than a million pounds to an ex-business partner, it has emerged.
Ranjit Singh Power, who ran the Ramada Park Hotel in the city, disappeared while on a business trip to Punjab in May 2015.
Although his body has never been found, Indian police say the 54-year-old businessman was kidnapped and murdered.
On Friday, just over two years since he went missing, a former business partner claiming £1.5 million from Mr Power applied for a charging order on land to secure part of the debt against a property he owns in Woodhouse Road North.
Last month, he successfully applied for interim charging orders – which stop the sale of the house – against five properties, including Woodhouse Road North, in Mr Power's name.
The claimant of the debt is an ex-business partner, known to Mr Power's family.
In a statement to the Queen's Bench Division, the businessman's legal team said Mr Power had breached an agreement linked with a company called Connection Europe Ltd, where Mr Power was a director until 2009.
The company went in to administration in 2012.
The statement said: "To date, the claimant is not aware of any conclusive evidence that the defendant has been murdered.
"At the time of this application the defendant remains missing."
WATCH: Family of missing businessman give emotional interview
Yesterday, brother to father-of-two Mr Power, Amrik Singh Power said: "My brother was a businessman, he dealt in millions, not hundreds. He was a property magnate in Dubai.
"Whatever agreement he had with the claimant was down to them. A lot of people invested money in him.
"He kept his private and business life separate. The man that was around the family was a different man to the one running the businesses."