HDFC Bank, Mehtas, and decades of discord: Timeline Explained

The Mehta family-owned Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust on Monday, 9 June 2025, pinned a fresh set of allegations against HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan. The Lilavati Trust allegations against the HDFC Bank CEO ranged from “bribe money” to “forging evidence.” 

This comes after HDFC Bank on Sunday called all the allegations and claims against the bank “malicious and baseless.” The bank stated that the Mehta family has exhausted other options and is now “launching personal attacks” against the bank and its executives to malign their reputation and pressure the lender to halt their recovery actions.

Timeline of events 

1) Loan in 1995: In the year 1995, HDFC Bank and other consortium banks granted a loan to Mehta family-owned Splendour Gems Ltd. 

2) Defaulter in 2001: Splendour Gems Ltd 2001 was officially termed a loan defaulter, and HDFC Bank started seeking options to recover the public money which was issued to the company as a loan. 

3) Order of 2004: The Debt Recovery Tribunal granted HDFC Bank a ‘recovery certificate’ in 2004, which gave the institutional lender the authority to recover the outstanding dues that remain “substantially unpaid” by the defaulter, the bank’s official statement later showed. 

4) Lilavati’s allegations against HDFC CEO (2025): The whole Mehtas vs HDFC Bank issue erupted when Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, on Sunday, 8 June 2025, which owns Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital, claimed that HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan and eight others were allegedly involved in a series of financial frauds and misappropriation of the Trust’s funds. 

The Trust was seeking the suspension and legal prosecution of the bank’s CEO over the alleged involvement in a financial fraud and fund corruption case. 

5) HDFC’s response to allegations: After the allegations made by the Lilavati Trust, the private bank officially refuted the claims as “baseless and malicious”, denying the company’s or executive’s involvement in such financial fraud affairs. 

“The allegations made by Lilavati Trust, its trustees and officials against the bank’s MD and CEO (managing director and chief executive officer) are baseless and malicious. The outrageous and preposterous allegations are strongly and categorically denied,” said the bank’s spokesperson in an official statement on Sunday. 

6) Mehta family files FIR: Later on Sunday, the Mehta family filed an FIR (First Incident Report) against the HDFC Bank CEO, Sashidhar Jagdishan, after the financial fraud allegations from Lilavati Trust. 

7) HDFC refutes claims: In response to the Mehta family FIR, HDFC Bank refuted the claims and said that the defaulters were trying to launch ‘personal attacks’ against the bank and its executives to malign their reputation and pressure the lender to halt their recovery actions. The bank also called the FIR “frivolous” on Sunday. 

“HDFC Bank will continue to pursue all lawful remedies to recover public funds and address the retaliatory actions taken by the Mehta family as well as to defend the reputation and integrity of the Bank, its Directors and other employees,” said the bank in its statement.

8) HDFC share reaction: Despite the allegations and FIR from the Mehta family and Lilavati Group, stock market investors did not dump the stock. Shares of the private lender closed flat, or 0.01 per cent down, at ₹1,978.60 after Monday’s market session, compared to ₹1,978.70 at the previous market close. 

9) Fresh Lilavati Trust allegations: The Lilavati Trust on Monday, 9 June 2025, issued a list of fresh allegations against HDFC Bank and its CEO, claiming the pointers as a “summary of misdeeds” of Chief Sashidhar Jagdishan. The allegations ranged from “bribe money” to “forging evidence.” 

The Trust alleged that the HDFC Bank CEO took ₹2.05 crore in bribes to help the Chetan Mehta Group remain “illegally” in control of the family Trust. Among other major allegations, CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan was offered ₹1.5 crore in bribes under the alleged CSR for the destruction and forging of evidence, and a civil and criminal defamation case of ₹1,000 crore is claimed to have been initiated against CEO Jagdishan. 

The Mehta family-run trust also dismissed HDFC Bank’s official response, claiming that the earlier allegations which were made towards the CEO have allegedly been scrutinised by the judicial authority before they registered an FIR. 

Disclaimer: All the views and claims in this story are from the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust. This story does not represent LiveMint’s views on the subject.