Mumbai: Members of Breach Candy Club hold meet to expose dethroned chairman, 'henchman'

A Jayakar (left) and Mahesh Jethmalani at the meet yesterday

The gloves came off on a Sunday afternoon meeting of the swish Breach Candy Club at an auditorium in Breach Candy when a faction of the members decided to blow the lid of an alleged scam brewing for three years.

The accusations were led by legal eagle Mahesh ‘Tony' Jethmalani, and supported by a few other members who together claimed that "dethroned chairman Dipesh Mehta ran the club like his fiefdom", adding that the club had been "hijacked by an outsider".

Slew of allegations
"At no stage was Mehta a member of the club. Yet, he usurped control and became chairman of the club. He got an executive committee of mainly rubber stamps." Members claimed that Mehta was brought in as a legal advisor to the club, but manipulated his way to the chairmanship. His "henchman" Lalit Agarwal, they claimed, was a member of the balloting committee, but his membership form is prima facie "forged".

They added that because of mismanagement since the past few years, the club has lost Rs 23 crore. "There have been inflated employment bills, and legal and professional fees incurred by the club which were to the tune of Rs 7 crore, which embarrasses even me," said Jethmalani. Add to that, the members cite an inexplicable loss in food and beverages, "to the tune of Rs 5.3 crore. No club loses on food and beverages," the insisted. They stated, "During Mehta's time, the members who were earlier on the waiting list were ignored and those behind them were given membership."

Jethmalani & Co. claimed a slew of other misdeeds like the non-maintenance of a membership register and accounts not audited, but their biggest claim was Mehta and Agarwal were indulging in racial discrimination against Indians and trying "to make this about Europeans in the club vs Indians."