Harshad Mehta's mum wants to bid for his flats

Rasila Mehta (72) wants the stockbroker's property in Worli for emotional reasons and plans to use her bank, fixed deposits for the purpose; at current market rate, the flats could fetch Rs 45 cr

Rasila Mehta (72) wants the stockbroker's property in Worli for emotional reasons and plans to use her bank, fixed deposits for the purpose; at current market rate, the flats could fetch Rs 45 cr

In her son's memory: Rasila Mehta, with her family, at Harshad Mehta's funeral in 2002. file pic

Harshad Mehta's eight inter-connected flats in Worli's Madhuli building, which are attached, just might stay in the family. The mother of the disgraced late stockbroker, Rasila Mehta (72), has filed an urgent appeal (a copy of which is available with MiD DAY) seeking permission to bid for the flats, which have been put up for auction.

She wants to bid using her attached assets, including the bank and fixed deposit balances and, if need be, even by the sale of certain attached shareholdings. The appeal comes up for hearing on February 3 and, if the court accepts it, Rasila will immediately bid for the mentioned properties via the custodian.

On February 4, the custodian will open the bids received for the flats at its office in Nariman Bhawan. In her appeal, Rasila has stated that her asset base has no connection or nexus with any of the tainted funds belonging to the banks.u00a0

Apart from the technical aspects, she has also mentioned in the appeal emotional reasons to bid for the flat. "It was the desire of the family to live together as a large joint family and therefore the internal walls of the flats were broken and and redesigned for living for the joint family," reads the appeal.

About the Big Bull

Harshad Mehta was a stockbroker who engineered the rise in the BSE stock exchange in 1992. Exploiting several loopholes in the banking system, Harshad and his associates siphoned off funds from inter-bank transactions and bought shares heavily at a premium across many segments, triggering a rise in the Sensex. When the scheme was exposed, the banks started demanding the money back, causing the collapse. He was later charged with 72 criminal offenses and more than 600 civil action suits were filed against him. He died in 2002 with many litigations still pending against him.

Only Mehta's mum lives in Madhuli



The appeal also mentions that Rasila has surplus assets, which are not encumbered with any liabilities.

In fact, she claims that there are no decrees against her even after the 16 years of the Special Court Act.

She's also said that she has never had a criminal record and even the CBI has never interrogated her. The Mehta family refused to comment on the issue.

Madhuli: Big Bull's prized possession
The now famous Madhuli apartments are a stone's throw from the Worli sea face, and you can almost miss them among the cluster of Shiv Sagar estate complex, opposite the Nehru Centre. The Mehta family owned nine apartments in the Madhuli Housing Cooperative Society, but one of them (flat number 31), which belongs to Rasila S Mehta, the stock broker's mother, is not up for sale. The Mehta family consists of four brothers, their wives, children and his mother. The nine flats were merged and redesigned to accommodate the joint family. Except for Rasila, all the others have moved out.