Honchos caught in cross-fire at 5-stars

MUMBAI: Five-star hotels, where leading Indian and foreign firms hold their business meetings, were caught in the terror crossfire late on Wednesday.

Top executives from leading corporates like Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Ispat Industries were confirmed to be at south Mumbai's prominent hotels, holding crucial business meetings when these hotels were attacked by terrorists.

It is learnt that HUL's top managing team, including chairman Harish Manwani, MD & CEO Nitin Paranjpe, director (finance & IT) D Sundaram, executive director (legal) Ashok Gupta and executive director (HR) Leena Nair were at the Taj Mahal Palace & Towers, where they had come for a dinner meeting.

Steel company Ispat Industries' director (commercial) Vinod Garg and his wife, along with 50-70 others, were caught up at the Oberoi hotel at Nariman Point.

The Gargs were at a business dinner with Ispat's foreign customers from Spain. Oberoi and Taj executives did not comment on the profile of their customers either staying at these hotels or caught up because of the terror attack.

A Taj executive said: "The staff at Taj is trying to assist the police to ensure the safety of our customers."

Courtesy: The Times of India