InfraLive September-15, 2025

HDFC - Lilavati Hospital Saga www.infralive.com 4 InfraLIVE September 15, 2025 that the Cash Diary was a “false and fabricated evidence”, to pressurise the HDFC management so that it does not follow up for the recovery of loan granted in 1998 till May 2020, to Beautiful Diamonds Ltd (“BDL”), a company owned by Mr Prashant's father Kishore Mehta (who died on May 20, 2024). However, he did not deny of having been appointed as the Financial Advisor by the Trust. Since the matter was not getting listed there for some reason or the other, Mr Sashidhar approached the Supreme Court for the cancella- tion of FIR and staying the investi- gation. Instead, the apex court directed the High Court to list the matter and hear himout. In an interim order, the Court stayed the investigation, but did not cancel the FIR. Against this order, Mr Sashidhar rushed to the apex court again. Mr Prashant also f i l ed appea l aga ins t s t ay ing investigation. In a big setback toMr Sashidhar, the court did not grant any relief to him, and also vacated the stay on investigation granted by theHighCourt. Now, the investigation is going on by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police. Based on this, the Enforcement Directorate has also registered case as ECIR No. 23 of 2025. Looking at the allegations levelled by a Trustee of one of the most prestigious hospitals of the country against the MD & CEO of the largest private bank in India (by market cap & assets), we started analysing the documents available in public domain, and the findings are presented in a comprehensive ten-part story of this issue for our readers. n May 29, 2024, in a O complaint filed by a Trus t ee o f Li l ava t i Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust (“Trust”) against Sashidhar Jagdishan, MD & CEO of HDFC Bank Ltd, and others, the court of Judicial First Class Magistrate (JFMC) at Bandra in Mumbai ordered the Police to register case against them under Sections 406, 409, and 420 readwith 34 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), and investigate the matter under Section 175(3) of Bharat i ya Nagar ik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. On May 31, 2025, the Police registered FIR in the matter and recorded the statement of the complainant Prashant Mehta. The complaint also had an appointment letter dated February 2, 2022 issued by Rekha Sheth, the then Permanent Trustee of the Trust, to Mr Sashidhar appointing him as Financial Advisor of the Trust. Mr Prashant also attached a copy of a diary (“Cash Diary”) in which there were hand written entries of substantial unaccounted cash payments having been made on the directions of the then Trustees namely Chetan Mehta, Rashmi Mehta, Niket Mehta, and Bhavin Mehta. The diary shows cash payment weremade to various parties including themselves. This also included payment of Rs 20,450,000 made to Mr Sashidhar on eleven different dates from March 16, 2022 to June 21, 2023 with amount ranging between Rs 450,000 andRs 2,500,000. Mr Sashidhar immediately rushed to Bombay High Court for staying the investigation and cancellation of FIR. He claimed HDFC - L ILAVATI H OSPITAL S AGA A Banker Turns Hitman Sashidhar Jagdishan MD & CEO, HDFC