HDFC Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sashidhar Jagdishan has moved the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash a First Information Report (FIR) against him filed by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust (LKMMT), a report by Bar and Bench stated on Wednesday. The Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai is owned by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust.
According to the report by Bar and Bench, the matter came up for hearing before a Division Bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Rajesh Patil, who recused themselves from hearing the case. When the matter was again mentioned before another bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal and Justice Shyam Chandak, they too recused themselves from hearing the matter. The matter will now be assigned to another bench by an administrative order of the Chief Justice.
FIR against HDFC Bank’s MD & CEO
Earlier this month, Lilavati Trust had lodged an FIR against HDFC Bank’s Jagdishan, demanding his immediate suspension and prosecution, for financial fraud. The top executive has been accused of accepting a significant sum of money to harass the father of a trust member — with the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust producing handwritten diary entries as evidence.
The FIR alleged that Sashidhar Jagdishan accepted a bribe of Rs 2.05 crore to help the Chetan Mehta group retain unlawful control over the LKMM Trust. It also urged the HDFC Bank board, RBI, SEBI, and the Finance Ministry to immediately suspend Jagdishan from all executive and board positions.
According to the complaint filed by the Trust, the FIR was based on evidence from a seized cash diary, which indicated a total misappropriation of Rs 14.42 crore by trustees, with Rs 2.05 crore allegedly traced to Jagdishan, thereby implicating him directly.
However, later, a HDFC Bank spokesperson rubbished the allegations and insisted that Jagdishan was being “targeted by unscrupulous people” who were “abusing the legal process to thwart the recovery of the long outstanding loan due to the Bank from recalcitrant defaulters”.