Godfrey Phillips executive director Samir Modi has lodged an FIR in New Delhi’s Sarita Vihar police station, alleging that her mother Bina Modi and Lalit Bhasin, one of the company’s board members, orchestrated an assault on him during the board meeting.
It further exacerbated the ongoing feud among the late KK Modi’s family members over the distribution of the Rs 12,000 crore inheritance.
Bina is also the director of Godfrey Phillips.
According to the complaint filed by Samir, KK Modi’s younger son, he was invited to the board meeting.
Things came to a boil, when Samir was stopped from entering the board meeting by his mother’s personal security officer, who “blocked and assaulted” him.
After the ruckus, however, he was allowed to enter the meeting.
A Godfrey Phillips spokesperson said that Samir was not a member of the audit committee but wanted to barge into the meeting where the discussions were in progress to discuss the company’s exit from the retail chain 24Seven.
Sources said that since Samir was not a member of the audit committee, he was not invited to the meeting.
An emergency Board meeting was called on Saturday to take stock of the crises and the future course of action.
Samir’s spokesperson, however, said that on May 6, he was invited to attend the audit committee meeting of Godfrey Phillips for the approval of the 2023-24 financial results.
“Historically, he has always attended the audit committee and Board meetings as the executive director of GPI,” the spokesperson said.
“Since 24Seven is part of Godfrey Phillips, terming him as an interested party other than for the welfare of GPI is unsubstantiated,” the spokesperson added.
The valuation of the four companies whose family stake is controlled through the trust is around Rs 12,000 crore.
The shareholding in the four companies is controlled through the KK Modi family trust, which includes flagship Godfrey Phillips, in which they have 47 per cent, Indofil (in which they have 70 per cent), Modicare and Colorbar (both of which they have 100 per cent stake).
Under the agreement, mother Bina, Samir, former IPL boss Lalit Modi, and daughter Charu Modi holds 25 per cent stake each.
