A top trustee of the well-known Lilavati Hospital, Bandra west, on Thursday accused his relatives of allegedly indulging in a Rs 500 crore fraud in the hospital management and demanded action against them.The Managing & Permanent Trustee Niket Mehta met Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar to submit his written complaint against the co-trustees of the hospital, besides writing to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said his lawyer Tanveer Nizam.Speaking to the media on Thursday, 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.However, though the Income Tax Department raided the hospital and the trustees, but no report has been filed yet with the apex court."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 said.
Nizam 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.He alleged that till date, 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.In order to sell of the hospital, Mehta - who serves in an honorary capacity without drawing any remuneration - said there was an unsuccessful attempt made on his life on July 23, 2010, since he was the Managing & Permanent Trustee of the hospital trust.Shocked by the attack, Mehta said his father Vijay Mehta died the following day, for which the trustees are directly responsible.The trustees include: Prabodh Mehta, his son Chetan Mehta, Kishore Mehta, Charu Mehta, Prashant Mehta, Rashmi Mehta, Bhavin Mehta, Charu Sheth, and others.The two said that in the Supreme Court, the trustees had suppressed the fact that the hospital stands on government land and hence is barred from renting or sub-letting the premises to any other party.Mehta has made an appeal to Chief Minister Fadnavis to help him fulfill his father's dream of providing quality healthcare for all and ensure that the culprits are booked.