Former Tata Sons chairperson Cyrus Mistry on Tuesday said group companies were exposed to regulatory violations by “individuals prone to impulsive control”, The Indian Express reported. In a statement issued by his office, Mistry said the individuals were “seeking to procure price sensitive information from listed Tata Group co[mpanie]s, breaking down governance” at the firms.

Mistry said he was fighting to protect Tata Group companies from Ratan Tata, the interim head of Tata Sons. “Mistry’s family holds over 18% interest in Tata Sons. If he were to indeed seek to make Tata Group companies break away from Tata Sons, he would have been hurting his own family’s financial interests,” the statement said. “Never before has the Tata Group, including the philanthropic objectives of the Tata Trusts been in jeopardy to this extent and scale,” it added.

Mistry’s statement on Tuesday came hours after Tata Sons said he had slowly “concentrated all power and authority in his own hands” during his tenure as chairperson since 2011. The accusation was in response to a statement issued by Mistry on Monday, where he called on the central government to ensure the “working of Tata Trusts, which are public charitable structure[s]”.

The Monday letter – written to Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy Services and Indian Hotels – added that the “conferment of all decision-making power in one man or a “high command” was unethical.

The statements come ahead of shareholder meetings of Tata group companies called by Tata Sons as part of its attempt to remove the former chairman from his position. Mistry was ousted as chairperson on October 24.

The Tata Group has accused Mistry of being responsible for its dwindling revenue, but Mistry has dismissed the group’s allegations against him. In a letter to his employees, interim chairperson Ratan Tata had said the decision to sack Mistry was “absolutely necessary” for the group’s success.