THE head of one of Britain's best-known Indian food companies, which has a factory in Leigh, is being sued by his two sisters for a share of the multi-million pound business.

Chitralekha Mehta and Anil Shastri are suing their brother, Bolton-based Kirit Pathak, in the High Court in London for a slice of the Patak empire's £50 million fortune.

The firm was founded by their father, Laxminshanker Pathak, more than 40 years ago.

In a joint action, Mrs Mehta, aged 56, and Mrs Shastri, aged 52, claim they are each owed the value of 1,250 shares, which they agreed to hand over to their mother in 1989, believing it was for business reasons and that the shares would be returned.

Giving evidence in London yesterday, Mrs Mehta said she had not realised that she was permanently transferring the shares.

But David Oliver QC, counsel for Mr Pathak and his mother, Shantagaury, suggested Mrs Mehta's action was based on greed and that a key document used in evidence was forged.

Mr Oliver also said that, despite receiving legal aid, Mrs Mehta was a woman of "considerable wealth" in India and had made more than £100,000 from property sales in Bolton during the past five years.

He told the court that Patak's turnover had risen from £3.8 million in 1989, to more than £28.5 million in 1997 and in excess of £54 million last year.

"I suggest this litigation is driven by greed on your part," he said to Mrs Mehta.

"The real explanation for not raising the question of your shares until 1997 is that, while the company was relatively small, it didn't really matter to you that much.

"Now it has grown into a very substantial international concern with a turnover that runs into eight figures per annum, you have decided to launch this action and you have concocted a story about some form of trust over your shares which never even crossed your mind back in 1989."

Mrs Mehta replied: "I totally reject that. Such a thought never occurred to me at all at any stage."

She said she had tried repeatedly to get an assurance from her brother about the shares, but he had never given a straight answer. "I just want to hear from his mouth how deviously he treated my and my sister's shares," Mrs Mehta said. "I never thought a brother was capable of such a thing."

She added: "All I am after is what's right and justifiably mine and I, as a girl, as a daughter, as a woman, I don't think I can be treated like this. Greed has never been my intention."

The court heard that in a note written in Gujurati, Mrs Pathak said her daughters would have their shares back before she died. But Mr Oliver said Mrs Pathak would claim she never wrote that note.

"Our contention is that this document is a forgery," he said.

Mrs Mehta said she knew the note was written by her mother, and invited Mr Oliver to get "whatever expert you want" to try to prove otherwise.

"That note is my mother's and I have no reason to lie about it, certainly not under oath," she said. "I have sworn on the Holy Gita.'' Mrs Mehta denied Mr Oliver's suggestion she knew "perfectly well" that she was signing a share transfer form.

Mrs Mehta denied she was well-off and said the property sales had been declared to the relevant authorities, adding that she lived in a bedsit and was in bad health after selling the houses.

Kirit Patak and his wife, Meena, a 47-year-old former model who is responsible for many of the company's recipes and has been given much of the credit for its success, live in a luxury house in Bolton with Kirit's mother.

The company had a new factory in Leigh opened by Cherie Blair two years ago. The firm claims it is the biggest curry factory in the world and supplies 90 per cent of the country's Indian restaurants with their products. The couple received OBEs for services to industry.

The hearing continues.