Another Bombay High Court judge recuses from HDFC Bank CEO's plea to quash FIR

Another judge of the Bombay High Court has recused from hearing the plea filed by HDFC Bank MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan seeking quashing of a first information report (FIR) registered against him based on a complaint by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, which owns and manages Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. [Sashidhar Jagdishan v State of Maharashtra].Justice Gautam Ankhad, who was sworn in as a judge of the High Court on July 4, expressed his inability to hear the case when it was mentioned on Tuesday. As a result, the matter is now unlikely to be heard on the earlier scheduled date of July 14.Justice Ankhad is the fourth judge to recuse from the matter. Earlier, three judges of the Bombay High Court had recused from hearing the matter. The matter was first listed before a bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Rajesh Patil on June 18 when Justice Patil recused himself. The same day, it was mentioned before a bench led by Justice Sarang Kotwal, who also recused. On June 25, it was listed before Justices MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain. Justice Jain disclosed that he held shares in HDFC Bank, and upon objection from the counsel for Prashant Mehta, the Trust’s authorised representative, he too recused..On June 30, the matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and M M Sathaye, which declined an urgent hearing and scheduled the matter for July 14. Following this, Jagdishan approached the Supreme Court. However, on July 4, the Supreme Court refused to hear the plea after noting that the matter was already listed before the Bombay High Court. The top court expressed hope that the High Court would take it up on the scheduled date. Following the recusal of Justice Ankhad on Tuesday, the matter is now unlikely to be heard on the earlier scheduled date of July 14..Jagdishan is accused of accepting a bribe of ₹2.05 crore in exchange for providing financial advice to help the Chetan Mehta Group retain illegal and undue control over the governance of the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust.The Trust has alleged that he misused his position as the head of a leading private bank to interfere in its internal affairs. Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered last month at Bandra Police Station under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code..Senior Advocate Amit Desai with advocate Chitra Rentala, Gopalkrishna Shenoy, Ritesh Desai, Kriti Srivastva, Parikshith K., Khyati Mehrotra and Shravani Maddirala instructed by Trilegal appeared for Jagdishan. Advocate Kushal Mor with advocates Abhishek Prabhu, Monish Bhatia and Jyoti Ghag instructed by Dua Associates represented Lilavati Trust.Advocate Kushal Mor with advocates Pooja Kothari and Urvi Gupte instructed by Rashmikant and Partners appeared for Prashant Mehta. .[Read Order]