 "K K Modi Group")
The Delhi Police on July 9 confirmed that Samir Modi, executive director of Godfrey Phillips India, was assaulted by the personal security officer (PSO) of Bina Modi, chairperson and managing director of the company.
The Delhi Police has asked Apollo hospital to explain the reason why it has issued two discharge summaries with two different dates in connection with the alleged assault on Samir Modi, the executive director of Godfrey Phillips India.
According to the FIR, which has been reviewed by Business Standard, the surgery years have allegedly been mentioned as 2019 and 2024 in the two different discharge summaries.
“Some other differences are also available in the both discharge summary. What is the reason for these differences and why? The reply may be provided at the earliest, so that further investigation in the case/FIR may be conducted,” the inspector at the Sarita Vihar Police Station has asked.
The Delhi Police on July 9 confirmed that Samir Modi, executive director of Godfrey Phillips India, was assaulted by the personal security officer (PSO) of Bina Modi, chairperson and managing director of the company.
However, the police have not found sufficient evidence to charge Bina Modi or Lalit Bhasin, independent director at Godfrey Phillips India, with criminal intimidation or conspiracy.
The younger son of KK Modi and Bina Modi had lodged an FIR with Delhi Police on June 27, 2024, accusing his mother, her personal security officer (PSO) and Godfrey Phillips directors of causing him “grievous hurt”.
He had accused his mother of orchestrating an attack on him to gain leverage in the ongoing inheritance dispute. He said his mother has been conspiring to remove him from the company’s board.
Bina Modi is also a director of Godfrey Phillips.
Samir Modi had moved the Saket district court seeking for monitoring of the investigation, preservation of the CCTV footage and calls records of the accused persons and seizure of their mobile phones.
After this, the PSO to Bina Modi had written to Delhi Police and filed a petition in Saket court to investigate the allegation and a fresh evaluation of Samir Modi’s injury by a government hospital.
Counsel to the PSO of Bina Modi, Manu Sharma told Business Standard,“The normal practice is to prepare one discharge summary. How can there be two different discharge summaries CCTV footage negates the theory of assault. Delhi Police should investigate the role of Apollo hospital and get Samir Modi’s alleged surgery investigated by a government hospital,” he said.
Bina Modi had withdrawn her contempt petition against her sons, Lalit and Samir Modi, from the Supreme Court on July 23.
Her lawyer had informed the court that she will not press contempt charges against her son Samir’s allegations that she assaulted him during a board meeting.
The incident occurs against the backdrop of a contentious succession battle over an estimated Rs 11,000-crore inheritance following the death of family patriarch KK Modi in 2019. Samir Modi, one of KK Modi’s three children and brother to former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi, has challenged his mother’s management of the family’s affairs in the Supreme Court.
The inheritance includes a nearly 50 per cent shareholding in Godfrey Phillips, valued at over Rs 5,500 crore, and stakes in other Modi group firms in sectors such as cosmetics, retail, and direct selling. Samir Modi has accused his mother of not distributing the funds as stipulated in a trust deed executed by his father, and of taking control of the company in violation of the deed’s terms. According to the deed, Samir Modi, Lalit Modi, and Charu Modi are equal beneficiaries and successors to the companies and assets.
A Delhi court on July 31 had said FMCG major Godfrey Phillips can now exit from its loss making retail business of 24Seven as a court lifted an injunction placed on the exit.
The company wanted to exit the retail business and had made an announcement regarding this recently. But on June 27, a Delhi court directed it to maintain the status quo regarding the 24Seven retail operations on an application by Samir Modi, who had sought the injunction.
First Published: Aug 27 2024 | 9:21 PM IST
