HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan Today (June 18) approached the Bombay High Court to cancel an FIR filed against him by Lilavati Hospital Trust, accusing him of a Rs 2.05 crore bribe. Judges recused from the case; HDFC calls the charges baseless.
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MUMBAI: HDFC Bank Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan has gone 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.
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