Ratan Tata’s confidante Mohini Mohan Dutta agrees to terms of his will, to get ₹588 crore | All you need to know

Ratan Tata’s close associate and a former director at the Taj Hotels group, Mohini Mohan Dutta, has consented to the terms of the late industrialist’s will, which has left him with assets worth ₹588 crore, as per a report.

Dutta, the only non-family individual to be awarded with assets worth such a great magnitude, is entitled to one-third of Ratan Tata’s residual estate, according to the report by the Times of India.

The 77-year-old was the only individual among the the two dozen beneficiaries of Ratan Tata’s ₹3,900-crore estate who questioned the value of his inheritance, as per ToI. With Dutta’s consent to the terms of the will, its executors will now be able to secure a probate from the Bombay High Court more swiftly.

Dutta had initially expressed reservations over the distribution of Ratan Tata’s assets, but could not pursue his issue legally due to a ‘no-contest’ clause, ToI reported. As per the clause, any heir challenging the will forfeits their entitlement.

Mohini Mohan Dutta’s relationship with Ratan Tata

As mentioned earlier, Mohini Mohan Dutta and Ratan Tata shared a close relationship, prompting the late industry stalwart to leave such a huge amount of asset to him.

The rest of Tata’s residual assets, excluding real estate and shareholdings, will be distributed equally among his two half-sisters, Shireen Jejeebhoy, aged 72, and Deanna Jejeebhoy, aged 70. They also are the executors of the will.

As per the ToI report, Tata and Dutta’s relationship is over six decades old. They met in at the Dealers Hostel in Jamshedpur when Tata was 25 and Dutta was 13.

The newspaper reported that Dutta relocated to Mumbai later and lived at Tata’s Bakhtawar residence in Colaba. He had once acknowledged that Ratan Tata “really built me up”.

After getting the inheritence, Dutta wanted to inspect some precious articles bequeathed to him, including a Ganesh idol, ToI reported. However, he was denied entry to the Halekai residence in Colaba, as Tata’s assets are being supervised by the executors of the will.

Who is Mohini Mohan Dutta?

Mohini Mohan Dutta started his career at the travel desk of Taj group. He wont on to establish his own travel firm in 1986 – Stallion Travel Services – with funding from Tata Industries, as per ToI. During that period, as per the report, Tata companies would use Stallion’s services for travel purposes.

Stallion was integrated into a Taj Hotels subsidiary in 2006 and Dutta was made the director of the resultant company Inditravel. He was one of the top earning executives of the Tata Group, as per ToI.

Tata Capital took over this travel services business in 2015, and two years later in 2017, it sold the company to Thomas Cook. Mohini Mohan Dutta continued to serve as a board director till 2019, when his company was merged into Thomas Cook.