Finances of Lilavati trustees on I-T radar

A team of Income Tax officials are minutely analysing the financial dealings of some of the trustees of Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre who were raided on Monday.

The trustees who have come under IT scanner for alleged tax evasions and suspected links to global money laundering networks are Pramod Kirtilal Mehta, Rashmi Kirtilal Mehta and their sons Chetan and Bhavin.

Investigations by Income Tax authorities have deciphered the financial network and traced Kirti Equities Private Limited to be registered as the Mumbai residence of Rashmi, but managed by Kirti Communication, a firm run by Pramod, Rashmi Chetan and Bhavin, in Les Cascades in Port Louis, Mauritius.

During the course of the probe, it has also come to light that Vijay Choraria, a co-opted trustee of Lilavati hospital and close business aide of the Mehtas and who is also a director of Kirti Equities Pvt Ltd, is also connected to the Mehta family's financial dealings.

IT has also placed under the scanner De-Five (Mauritius) Holdings Ltd, a financial company believed to be linked to the Mehtas, which holds a 3 per cent share in IndusInd Bank owned by Hinudja Group.

Kirti Equities Pvt Ltd is the third largest shareholder of ING Investment Management (India) Ltd with a 14.34 per cent stake.

" We are closely scrutinising their financial dealings on paper to trace the source of funding of shares held by De- Five Holdings Ltd and Kirti Equities Pvt Ltd which have been bought in private banks. Kirti Equities Pvt Ltd is a shareholder in ING Investment Management, which manages the portfolio and individual schemes of ING Vysya Bank, collectively amounting to Rs 50,000 crore of public money," disclosed an IT official.