Mumbai: HDFC Bank managing director and chief executive officer Sashidhar Jagdishan has approached the Bombay High Court seeking to quash an FIR filed by Prashant Mehta, a permanent trustee of Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, sowner of Lilavati Hospital, which accused him of accepting a Rs2.05 crore bribe to help the Chetan Mehta Group retain “illegal control” of the charitable trust.
Two benches of the high court, one headed by Justice Ajey Gadkari and another headed by Justice Sarang Kotwal, recused themselves from hearing the plea on Wednesday.
The FIR, lodged on June 6, alleged that Jagdishan provided “financial and strategic advice” that allowed the Mehta family to manipulate trust affairs. In a statement issued on June 9, the Trust claimed the purported payment was part of a wider plan “to loot the Trust” and said the banker and his family had enjoyed “free medical treatment” at Lilavati Hospital. The bank has not specifically addressed the allegation. The Trust further pointed out that it has kept deposits and investments worth Rs48 crore with HDFC Bank since 2022, suggesting a conflict of interest, and accused Jagdishan of offering Rs1.5 crore in CSR funds to “destroy and forge evidence” in an internal dispute.
Appearing for Jagdishan, senior advocate Amit Desai dismissed the accusations as “one of the most absurd allegations that he received money from trustees”. Calling the FIR a retaliatory measure, Desai told the court it was filed only after HDFC Bank began recovery proceedings against Splendour Gems Ltd., a Mehta-controlled company that has defaulted on Rs65.22 crore in loans. “These actions follow recovery proceedings initiated by the bank against a company owned by the father of one of the trustees,” he said, adding: “They now use the façade of Lilavati Trust to take action against us.”
HDFC Bank, in a public statement, labelled the complaint “malicious and baseless,” asserting it was a tactic “to derail legitimate efforts to recover longstanding dues” from the Mehta group.
Jagdishan’s petition not only seeks to set aside the FIR but also asks the court to bar the police from taking any coercive steps against him while the petition is pending.
