Mumbai: Raising eyebrows across the city, the Managing & Permanent Trustee Niket Mehta of the prestigious Lilavati Hospital, Bandra west recently accused his relatives and co-trustees of the hospital for indulging in a Rs 500 crore scam in the hospital management.

At a press conference organised here, the senior trustee hurled accusations that the other trustees planned to sell off the hospital, adding that till now , the trustees have already sold/siphoned off prime properties of the trust in Mumbai, Pune, Raigad, New Delhi and Kolkata, collectively worth around Rs 500 crore.

"I have demanded on several occasions an external audit of the accounts of the hospital, preparation of audited reports which could indicate the main findings, detect the huge amounts of funds siphoned off, modus operandi of the frauds and other irregularities, and create a mechanism to prevent recurrence of such frauds in future," Mehta told IANS

It is reported that after the death of his father, Niket Mehta took the charge of the hospital and became the permanent trustee of Lilavati Hospital. He is a part of the 11 member charitable trust, of whom nine are from the Mehta family. The infighting among the trustees has been going on for the past several years reports the Hindu.

Demanding indepth investigation into the case , Niket Mehta filed his written complaint against the co-trustees of the hospital to the Mumbai Police.

Speaking to the media, Mehta said the Supreme Court had ordered a special investigation team to be set up to probe the state of affairs at Lilavati Hospital, where top celebrities throng for treatment.While the Income Tax Department raided the hospital and the trustees, but no report has been filed yet with the apex court., reports IANS

Tanveer Nizaam, the lawyer of Niket Mehta said there was an attempt by two factions in the trust management to sell off the hospital, now worth several billions and pocket the proceeds, which would defeat the vision of its Founder, the late Vijay Mehta. Niket Mehta also claimed that on July 23, 2010 someone attacked him due to the said Matter. Niket Mehta has also urged the Chief Minister Fadnavis to help him in the case so that the real culprit can be booked.

Allegation Baseless- Say Other Trustees

Indian Express reports that responding to allegations, the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust issued a statement saying: “An attempt of Mr Niket Mehta to make baseless allegations against trustees of Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical trust is a desperate attempt to browbeat the trustees and threaten them not to take legal action against him for his illegal occupation of 12th floor in Lilavati hospital as his residential premises initiated by the trustees.”

The trustees said Mr. Mehta was not a part of the construction, maintenance and running of the hospital and has never contributed to its growth. adds the Hindu.

“Even his claim that his father was the founder of the trust is incorrect. The founder of the trust was the late Mr. Kirtilal Manilal Mehta,” the statement said.