Mumbai: I-T searches at Lilavati Hospital

Mumbai, Apr 11: Sleuths of the Income Tax department today (Apr 11) conducted searches at the Lilavati Hospital here in connection with the alleged financial irregularities committed by its trustees and owners, sources said.

The searches, which began this morning were carried out in the purchase, bio-medical and pharma departments of the famous hospital, located in suburban Bandra here, they said.

The Supreme Court had last week issued notices to the Centre and RBI on a petition seeking probe into the alleged money laundering by the trustees of the hospital here.

The petition filed by Delhi resident Harsh Raghuvanshi sought investigation into the alleged siphoning of funds by hospital trustees Prabodh Mehta, Rashmi Mehta, Chetan Mehta and Bhavin Mehta.

It has been alleged that the Mehtas have siphoned out money from the hospital and through the hawala route it has been deposited in banks abroad including Mauritius.

Meanwhile, Lilavati Hospital authorites confirmed the search operations and said in a statement here that they were co-operating with the Income Tax department officials.

Also, the hospital functioned without any hassles.

"Let me assure that the functioning of the hospital is unaffected and the patients are being taken care of by our doctors," Niket Vijay Mehta, managing and permanent trustee of the hospital said.

PTI