Chitralekha Mehta’s battle for her share in the £350 million worth Patak Curry Sauce empire in Britain is likely to end as the Legal Services Commission has withdrawn the legal aid to her.
Mehta has received an estimated £500,000 taxpayers’ cash with her sister to fund a court dispute in London with her brother Kirit Pathak. She and her sister Anita Shastri are claiming he cheated them out of their family fortune’s share.
The withdrawal follows the Commission’s 18-month probe into claims that Mehta was wealthy enough to support the case herself. It sent inspectors to Chennai, to assess Mehta’s wealth. Inquiries made by The Sunday Times into Mehta’s circumstances raised doubts over her claims in court that she was separated from her husband Dilip, who runs a hospital in one of the city’s suburbs. A family friend said he understood the couple were still together.
In a statement, the commission said it had ‘‘discharged’’ Mehta’s legal aid certificate. However, a spokesman declined to comment on the reasons. —(PTI)