Case against hotel CEO for ‘harassing, assaulting’ wife

A simmering feud between the chief executive officer (CEO) and director of Advani Hotels and Resorts India Ltd, previously known as Ramada Hotels (India), and his wife has escalated, leading to the latter registering an FIR at the Worli police station on June 13 against her husband

MUMBAI: A simmering feud between the chief executive officer (CEO) and director of Advani Hotels and Resorts India Ltd, previously known as Ramada Hotels (India), and his wife has escalated, leading to the latter registering an FIR at the Worli police station on June 13 against her husband.

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Shahana Garg, 43, has accused her husband Prahlad Advani, 46, who also used to run the popular Caravela Beach Resort in Goa, of harassment and assault for money and share in her ancestral property.

In her first complaint to the police last week, Shahana alleged her father-in-law Sunder Advani, 85, the promoter of the hotels and resorts chain, had egged his son to make the demands.

However, when contacted Prahlad strenuously denied the allegations and said the FIR was the fallout of an ongoing matrimonial dispute.

In her statement to the cops, Shahana claimed after they were married in 2012, her family had spent large sums during the birth of her child in the US at Prahlad’s insistence as he wanted the child to be an American citizen, said an officer attached to the Worli police station.

She claimed despite her family going all out to support them, she “was assaulted several times by her husband, at the behest of her father-in-law and 78-year-old mother-in-law Menka, when she refused to obtain a share in her father’s property in Manali”, said the police officer.

Eventually she said, her nine-year-old son was taken away from her on April 30, 2024, and while the harassment in her matrimonial home continued, she was not allowed to meet the child.

“Shahana said as her in-laws had acquired a ‘foreign citizenship’, she fears they might leave the country with her son. They even asked her to vacate the house, in Peddar Road, saying it required renovation, although no such move has been made yet,” said the police officer.

When HT reached out Prahlad to clarify the issue of citizenship, he reverted through his spokesperson, stating: “My father and I are Indian citizens, while my mother is an American citizen. We gave a voluntary undertaking to the court on May 10 stating that we will not take the child out of India till the matter is decided by the court.”

In the past, there have been several litigations in the metropolitan magistrate courts and the Bombay high court between the complainant and her husband on issues of domestic violence and child custody.

“We have registered the case under section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 498 (enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code,” said the police officer.

Responding to his wife’s allegations Prahlad responded through his spokesperson: “This is nothing but an attempt to malign a reputed, respectable family and use the press as a means of extortion. There is no truth in any of the allegations; in fact the Advani family is the victim. There are marital issues for which appropriate legal proceedings have been initiated. Since matters are subjudice in diverse courts it would not be appropriate to comment or discuss details. Suffice to say that what she has not been able to achieve through the courts and legal process, she is now trying to achieve by making malicious allegations on a public platform. Necessary action for defamation will be taken.”