Curry feud returns to court

The sisters at the centre of the Patak's spice empire battle are returning to the High Court after failing to win their millions, it emerged today.

Chitralekha Mehta and Anila Shastri - dubbed the "Spice Girls" - fought a bitter six-week court case against their brother Kirit Pathak.

The collapse in the outof-court settlement is set to land the taxpayer with another huge legal aid bill. The current one has already passed the ?1 million mark.

The sisters say they were cheated out of a share of the family's ? 54 million Indian food empire, which supplies supermarkets and restaurants. The case ended on 21 April with Mr Justice Evans-Lombe being told a deal had been reached. It seemed Mrs Mehta, 56, and Mrs Shastri, 52, had won ?8 million.

But today their lawyer Prakash Patel said the case will resume on Tuesday and legal aid, controversially granted to both sisters, was continuing.

A source said relations between the factions were "worse than worse", adding: "There has been no agreement, negotiations have proved largely fruitless. It is now possible there will be a full case lasting five weeks."

The sisters claim Mr Pathak, 51, cheated them out of 1,250 shares each by using a Hindu custom that strips women of inheritance rights. They say they transferred the shares to their mother Shantagaury for business reasons in 1989, but she gave them to Mr Pathak.

Both sisters are suing him and his firm Worldwing Investments. Mrs Shastri is also suing her mother. Calling them gold-diggers, Mr Pathak claimed they forged a document to bring the case. Shantagaury accused her daughters of being "wicked and jealous".

Patak's was founded by the siblings' father Laxmishanker, who came to London from Kenya in 1955. He began selling samosas from a 5ft by 6ft kitchen. In 2002, five years after he died, the firm had a ?50-million-ayear-turnover.

Mr Pathak, who was awarded the OBE, and his wife Meena, 47, live in a huge home in the North-West and have a Hampstead apartment. He has a Mercedes with the registrat ion 1WON. Mrs Mehta, who is separated from her husband, lives in a suburb of Madras.

In court she was asked why she was claiming legal aid when she had made money from two property sales in Bolton.

Mrs Shastri, also separated, lives on benefits in a rented Wembley house.