Bombay High Court.
The Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, which operates the famous Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, has filed a petition before the Bombay High Court seeking transfer of investigation against HDFC Bank MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) [Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust Through Prashant Mehta vs Union of India and Ors].
The Trust has accused Jagdishan of accepting ₹2.05 crore in bribes to facilitate former trustees’ continued, allegedly unlawful control over the Trust.
The matter was mentioned before a division bench led by Justice Sarang Kotwal on Friday, who recused himself.
The plea is expected to be re-assigned to a new bench for listing.
The petition arose from a complaint filed by trustee Prashant Mehta, who claimed that his father, a former trustee, was subjected to prolonged harassment in connection with a loan recovery matter involving a company linked to current trustees.
According to Mehta, the sustained pressure contributed to his father’s death.
On May 29, the Bandra Magistrate directed Bandra police to register an FIR under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code pursuant to a complaint under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The FIR was registered on May 31. Central to the complaint is a diary allegedly recovered by Mehta, containing entries of payments totalling ₹2.05 crore purportedly made to Jagdishan by Chetan Mehta and six other former trustees.
The Magistrate acknowledged that the entries were not supported by additional documents but found the allegations serious enough to warrant an investigation.
Subsequently, the trust has filed the present petition. In its plea, it has argued that since Jagdishan qualifies as a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the investigation needs to be undertaken by a central agency like CBI.
Jagdishan too has moved the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR, arguing that photocopied diary entries, which are unverified and uncorroborated, do not constitute valid grounds for initiating criminal proceedings.
The Trust has additionally filed a ₹1,000 crore civil defamation suit and a criminal defamation complaint against Jagdishan and HDFC Bank. The latter is scheduled for hearing on July 18 before the Girgaon Magistrate Court.
