Widow alleges sisters-in-law took over hospital, looted ₹17 crore

A lawyer in Mumbai has accused her sisters-in-law of wrongfully taking over a hospital and stealing equipment worth ₹17 crore ($2.3 million). The police have registered a case against the two sisters-in-law for cheating and trespassing.

MUMBAI: A Kandivali-based lawyer and joint owner of a hospital has alleged that her sisters-in-law took over the hospital wrongfully after her husband’s demise and stole equipment worth ₹17 crore. The Samta Nagar police have registered a case based on the lawyer’s complaint, and the two sisters-in-law have been booked for cheating and trespassing.

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Suchita Madhekar and Dr Kamlesh Madhekar were joint directors at Sancheti Hospital in Kandivali East. After the latter’s demise in November last year, his sisters Dr Meenal Kamble and Sonal Madhekar came forward to help Suchita Madhekar run the hospital, she told police.

“I agreed with their proposal as I was grieving, and they took the operations in January this year. But a couple of months later, I noticed that no money was being deposited in the hospital’s official bank account,” said the complainant. She later discovered that the two accused were diverting all the income to their personal accounts, she said.

Madhekar further told the police that when she visited the hospital in March, she learnt that all staff members and doctors who worked there earlier had been removed from their jobs.

“There was an entirely new staff in the hospital when I resumed working,” she said.

When confronted, the accused refused to hand over keys of the facility back to Madhekar even though they did not have the necessary permissions to run the hospital.

“The loan on the hospital used to be paid off in monthly instalments through our official accounts. But since no money has been deposited in the officials account lately, instalments have not been paid to creditors for months,” she said.

Madhekar also alleged that every time she visited the hospital to discuss these issues with the two accused, they insulted her and made indecent comments. On one occasion, they assaulted brutally such that she required hospitalisation, she said.

Police in Samta Nagar have registered a case based on Madhekar’s complaint. He sisters-in-law Dr Meenal Kamble and Sonal Madhekar have been booked under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 452 (trespass), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. Further investigation in the matter is underway, said the police.