Mumbai: The Income Tax department on Monday
conducted search and survey operations at the Lilavati
Hospital and 28 other premises here in connection with alleged
financial irregularities committed by its trustees and owners.
The operations come in the wake of a petition filed by
Delhi resident Harsh Raghuvanshi seeking investigation into
alleged siphoning of funds by hospital trustees Prabodh Mehta,
Rashmi Mehta, Chetan Mehta and Bhavin Mehta.
The Mehtas have been accused of siphoning out money
from the hospital trust and depositing it in LGT bank, Germany
and other tax havens abroad, including those in Mauritius,
using hawala channels.
"We have conducted searches and surveys on 29 premises
including the residence of Mehtas," Additional Director of
Investigations (I-T), AK Singh said.
I-T sources said the searches are still being
conducted at the premises of Mayfair Realty and Vestra
Infrastructure, which had financial dealings with the Lilavati
Trust.
The searches were conducted at finance, purchase,
biomedical and pharmaceuticals departments of the hospital
from where I-T sleuths also seized some computer hard disks
and papers.
The Supreme Court had last week issued notices to the
Centre and the RBI on a petition seeking probe into the
alleged money laundering by trustees of Lilavati Hospital.
Meanwhile, Lilavati Hospital authorities in a
statement have confirmed the search operations and said they
were cooperating with the I-T officials.
"Let me assure that the functioning of the hospital is
unaffected and the patients are being taken care of by our
doctors," Managing and Permanent Trustee of the Hospital,
Niket Vijay Mehta said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, April 11, 2011, 23:43