Brawls rock Lilavati Hospital

Trustee, staffers engage in public slanging matches

Mumbai:  The prestigious Lilavati Hospital in Bandra west, much in the slimelight for various reasons, witnessed at least three public brawls peppered with choicest abuses and near-fisticuffs among a Permanent Trustee and certain staffers, sources said.

The showdowns took place in October 2024, January and February 2025 that willy-nilly exposed some scams inside the hallowed portals of the hospital – ranging from corruption to sexist behaviour, besides the alleged spectre of ‘black magic’ that was admitted by the authorities there in March 2025 – raising many questions of the murky goings-on.

One incident concerned a Permanent Trustee Rajiv Kishor Mehta, son of the Trustees Kishor Mehta (who died in May 2024) and Charu Mehta, besides being son-in-law of diamantaire and erstwhile Bollywood's moneybags mogul, Bharat Shah.

Rajiv Kishor Mehta claimed that a Vice-President and Head of Purchase Shubham Bardhan – said to be loyal to another Permanent Trustee Rajesh Kishor Mehta (twin brother of Rajiv Kishor Mehta) entrusted with the critical supply chain management - was appointed as a co-signatory with any Trustee in Dec. 2024, but without a formal Board Resolution.

Rajiv described Bardhan with unsavoury words like - ‘uncouth, uncultured, rodent, amateur, robber, alcoholic, mental patient having a split personality disorder and sex-predator’ - who physically prevented him from inspecting the hospital’s 12th floor on Feb. 1, where deluxe suites are planned.

When Rajiv asked to examine the materials department where medical and other supplies were carelessly stored, Bardhan’s team asked him to take prior permission of his twin-brother (Rajesh Kishor Mehta). As he waited there, Bardhan plus his staffers and some security guards barged towards him menacingly.

Though Rajiv beat a retreat, he shot off a stinker to the COO Dr. Niraj Uttamani and all the Trustees, demanded security for self as Bardhan would have pushed him from the 12th floor that day, probe and suspension of Bardhan, and action by a sexual harassment panel for his alleged sexual exploitation of women staffers.

The hospital’s Guest Relations Department chief Mayuri Kulkarni recounted two other instances of January 2025 and October 2024, hinting at questionable intentions by Bardhan to some female staffers. (both letters viewed by The Perfect Voice).

Bardhan threw his designation and the matter reached the COO Dr. Uttamani and Permanent Trustee Rajiv, where Kulkarni narrated how she and other women were insulted, humiliated as their modesty was hurt in a public forum.

With the latest revelations, some ex-Trustees and officials in the know want the Charity Commissioner, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and other concerned agencies to intervene. 

Permanent Trustee exposes ‘commission-scam’

Lilavati Hospital’s Permanent Trustee Rajiv Kishor Mehta unwittingly laid bare an alleged ‘commission scam’ involving Bardhan and implicating twin-brother and Permanent Trustee Rajesh Kishor Mehta.

Rajiv accused Bardhan of openly demanding and pocketing commissions from external manufacturers, suppliers and vendors which was giving a bad image to the hospital. Going further, he contended that the VP (Bardhan) of Lilavati Hospital was the only one in Mumbai seeing such cuts, and those who failed to pay up were struck off the hospital list.

“I have personally received complaints about him asking money under-the-table by various pharmaceutical companies, equipment companies and surgical suppliers. One vendor even admitted to this in front of Dr. Uttamani, Gauti Bhatia, Peter D’Souza and myself. The man (Bardhan) is a complete blot to the 3 decades of reputation built by our founding fathers,” said Rajiv.

Besides threatening the suppliers of discontinuing their business with Lilavati Hospital, Rajiv said that Bardhan regularly summons young female employees of many departments to his room ‘for reasons best known to him’, or how he greeted them as ‘Hello, Beautiful ladies!’, barges into their rooms, made highly sexist and perverse remarks at them, and at least two harassed women wanted to quit their jobs.

“This man Shubham is a characterless, greedy and the worst employee in the history of Lilavati Hospital. I need complete protection from him as he may cause grievous harm to me and my family members and many of the ladies working in our erstwhile hospital,” said Rajiv Kishor Mehta.