London: The bitter legal battle between Kirit Pathak, owner of the multi-million-Pound Pathak's Indian food empire, and his two sisters is being settled out of court, the London High Court was told today (Apr 21, 2004).

A provisional agreement, thought to be worth 12 million Pounds, has been reached, the court was informed.

The case hinged on claims by two of the Pathak daughters that they had been cheated out of their shares. Sisters Chitralekha Mehta, 56, and Anila Shastri, 52, are expected to receive about six million Pounds each.

The settlement follows a High Court case between company boss Kirit and his two married sisters Chitralekha and Anila who claimed they had been cheated out of shares allocated to them by their late father.

The sisters said they had given their shares to their mother for safekeeping only, but that she had passed them on to their brother Kirit.

Kirit later bought out shares of his brothers and parents to take control of the award-winning Indian food company based in Lancashire.

"We are both very happy. We have won and the truth has prevailed. This was not about the money. We have fought this case to get back what we thought was rightfully ours - that is, the shares in the company," Chitralekha said.