UK's richest family patriarch Srichand Hinduja dead at 87

Srichand Hinduja, the tycoon who headed Britain's richest family, has died at the age of 87, a spokesman said.

Hinduja had dementia and his plight had become the centre of a family feud that culminated in court proceedings about whether he should be taken into public care.

The eldest of four brothers behind the Hinduja Group conglomerate, he died on Wednesday, according to a family spokesman.

He "passed away peacefully" and was "looked after" by relatives, the spokesman said, hailing him as a "visionary titan of industry and business".

The Hindujas topped the Sunday Times Rich List in 2022 with a fortune estimated at £28.4 billion ($35.4 billion).

But a London judge said that despite the vast means at their disposal, Hinduja's needs had become "marginalised" by the family dispute, according to court filings that emerged in November.

The family said they had settled their differences.

The conglomerate was founded by the brothers' father Parmanand Hinduja who traded in tea and dried fruit in Mumbai in 1919 before moving it to Iran.

The brothers took over in the 1960s and greatly expanded the business.

The sprawling Hinduja Group -- led by London-based Srichand and Gopichand -- grew to span interests in power, oil and gas, banking, and healthcare.

Srichand Hinduja was thrust into the UK media spotlight in the late 1990s amid accusations that a leading member of Tony Blair's government had improperly lobbied to gain him British citizenship.