HDFC Bank CEO strikes Bombay High Court in search of to quash FIR filed by Lilavati Trust

The Bombay High Court on Monday (July 14, 2025) adjourned until July 23, 2025, the listening to on a petition filed by HDFC Bank Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan in search of quashing of a First Information Report (FIR) lodged in opposition to him by a trustee of the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust. The FIR accuses Mr. Jagdishan of accepting ₹2.05 crore in money to assist alleged monetary wrongdoing by one faction of the Mehta household. 

A Division Bench of judges, Justice M.S. Karnik and Justice N.R. Borkar heard preliminary arguments from Senior Advocate Amit Desai, showing for the HDFC Bank CEO, who contended that the grievance was “false, outrageous and preposterous” and half of a bigger sample of “malafide authorized harassment” by Prashant Mehta, a trustee of the hospital belief. 

Earlier, 4 judges had recused from listening to the matter.

Mr. Desai knowledgeable the courtroom that the FIR is a retaliatory transfer following the financial institution’s restoration efforts in opposition to Splendour Gems (previously Beautiful Diamonds), an organization promoted by members of the Mehta household, which defaulted on loans amounting to ₹65.22 crore. A restoration certificates had been issued by the Debt Recovery Tribunal as early as 2004. 

He additional defined that there are two factions inside the Mehta household, and that after a change in management in January 2024, a number of authorized proceedings have been initiated by Prashant Mehta, together with an earlier utility underneath Section 156(3) CrPC alleging culpable murder—an utility that was dismissed and is now underneath revision. The current FIR, registered on the path of the Bandra Magistrate underneath Section 175 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, adopted a grievance submitted in September 2024 alleging discovery of a “money diary” indicating funds to Mr. Jagdishan. 

“This will not be about legislation—it’s authorized warfare. They have misplaced at each stage, and now they’re misusing the prison course of to exert stress on a person,” Mr. Desai submitted. He added {that a} press marketing campaign and letters to the RBI and the Bank Chairman started quickly after the FIR was registered on May 31, calling for Mr. Jagdishan’s elimination. 

The courtroom inquired whether or not any coercive motion was anticipated, to which Mr. Desai responded within the affirmative. The Additional Public Prosecutor (APP), nonetheless, mentioned the investigation was ongoing and now underneath the purview of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The APP requested that the matter be taken up subsequent week, citing the emergence of contemporary communication between members of the belief and former trustees. 

The courtroom famous that no summons had been issued up to now and orally directed that no such motion be taken till Friday. It additionally requested for a consolidated chart of different petitions linked to the dispute—together with these filed by the Asset Reconstruction Company and a plea for transferring the investigation to the CBI. 

The matter will now be taken up on July 23.