Lilavati Trust Vs HDFC Bank CEO
Lilavati Hospital’s trust has approached the Bombay High Court, demanding a CBI investigation against HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan over Rs 2.05 crore bribe allegations. The case involves serious charges including cheating and criminal breach of trust.
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MUMBAI: The famous Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, run by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, has taken a big step by filing a legal petition in the Bombay High Court. They are asking for the investigation against HDFC Bank MD and CEO, Sashidhar Jagdishan, to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Trust has made a serious allegation that Sashidhar Jagdishan took Rs 2.05 crore as a bribe. They claim this money was given to help some ex-trustees keep illegal control over the hospital trust.
The matter first came up on Friday in front of a division bench led by Justice Sarang Kotwal, but he decided not to hear the case and recused himself. Now, the case will be given to a new bench.
This whole issue started after a complaint by Prashant Mehta, one of the trustees. He said that his father, a former trustee, was harassed for a long time over a loan recovery issue related to a company connected to the current trustees. Prashant Mehta also claimed that this constant pressure led to his father’s death.
On May 29, the Bandra Magistrate Court told the police to register an FIR under serious charges like:
- Section 406 (criminal breach of trust),
- Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant),
- Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code,
based on Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
Following this, on May 31, an FIR was officially registered. The main part of the complaint is a diary that was found by Prashant Mehta. It reportedly has written records of Rs 2.05 crore in payments made to Sashidhar Jagdishan by Chetan Mehta and six other ex-trustees.
The Magistrate accepted that these records were not supported by extra documents, but still said that the allegations were very serious, so an investigation was needed.
Because of this, the Trust filed a new petition, saying that Sashidhar Jagdishan is a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act, so the CBI should investigate the matter, not the local police.
Meanwhile, Sashidhar Jagdishan has also gone to the Bombay High Court and asked to cancel the FIR. He says that:
“Photocopied diary entries, which are unverified and uncorroborated, do not constitute valid grounds for initiating criminal proceedings.”
Apart from this, the Trust has also filed a Rs 1,000 crore civil defamation case and a criminal defamation complaint against both Sashidhar Jagdishan and HDFC Bank.
The criminal defamation case is now scheduled to be heard on July 18 in Girgaon Magistrate Court.
EARLIER IN BOMBAY HC
HDFC Bank Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan on June 18 went to the Bombay High Court to request the cancellation of a police case (FIR) registered against him by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, the owner of Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai.
When the case came up for hearing in the High Court before a division bench consisting of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Rajesh Patil, both judges decided not to hear the case.
Now, the case will be assigned to a different bench for further hearing.
The FIR was filed earlier this month and includes serious allegations. It accuses Jagdishan of accepting a bribe of Rs 2.05 crore to help the Chetan Mehta Group keep illegal control over the hospital Trust.
The complaint also says that this money was given to him for offering financial and strategic advice in a way that helped manipulate the Trust’s internal matters. According to the Trust, this was a misuse of his position as the head of HDFC Bank.
In a long and detailed statement released by the Trust on June 9, it claimed the Rs 2.05 crore payment was just one part of a bigger conspiracy where Jagdishan helped the Mehta Group in “looting the Trust” and maintaining unfair influence in how it is managed.
The Trust also accused Jagdishan and his family of enjoying “free medical treatment” at Lilavati Hospital. According to the Trust, this benefit was never officially acknowledged by HDFC Bank and remains unaddressed.
The Trust further added that it has placed deposits and investments worth Rs 48 crore with HDFC Bank since the financial year 2022. It implied that this ongoing financial relationship shows a conflict of interest in Jagdishan’s actions.
Additionally, the complaint mentioned that Jagdishan allegedly offered Rs 1.5 crore under the name of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. The purpose of this money, the Trust claimed, was to help destroy and fake evidence in internal disputes inside the Trust.
In court today, Senior Advocate Amit Desai, who is representing Jagdishan, strongly denied all the allegations and said they are completely false and illogical.
He called them “one of the most absurd” accusations.
“It’s one of the most absurd allegations that he received money from trustees. The absurdity of the allegation is that he allegedly received Rs 2 crore to harass HDFC Bank borrowers,”
-Desai argued.
He further told the court that this FIR was filed only because HDFC Bank had taken legal steps to recover unpaid loans from Splendour Gems Limited — a company belonging to the Mehta family. As of May 31, that company has not paid back Rs 65.22 crore.
Desai said-
“These actions follow recovery proceedings initiated by the bank against a company owned by the father of one of the trustees.”
He also told the court that the complaint was made only after the Trust did not get a favourable response from the Union Finance Minister, the Reserve Bank of India, or the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
“They now use the facade of Lilavati Trust to take action against us,”
-he added.
Meanwhile, HDFC Bank has also given a public statement, rejecting all the allegations and calling them “malicious and baseless.”
The bank said that the complaint is part of a plan to stop its efforts in collecting long-overdue payments from the company controlled by the Mehta family.
CASE TITLE:
Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust Through Prashant Mehta vs Union of India and Ors.
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