In the news: The Hinduja brothers

The mutual wooing of the controversial billionaire businessmen, the Hinduja brothers, and leading politicians has been subjected to minute scrutiny in recent weeks.

But as new Labour's dealings with the four brothers - Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash and India-based Ashok - threaten to bring down another minister after the departure of Northern Ireland secretary Peter Mandelson, little has been said about their courtship of Britain's ivory towers.

Cambridge University, notably, has become a major beneficiary of the Hindujas' largesse. The Hinduja Trust is listed gratefully by Cambridge as one of the university's "corporate benefactors" and much of their money has been spent on work into "how the riches of the Indic traditions can be made relevant to modern society in practical ways", as Cambridge explains it.

To this end, the Hindujas established in 1995 the Dharam Hinduja Institute of Indic Research, a research centre in the faculty of divinity to "study the Indic traditions", focusing on the brothers' Vedic beliefs, and to "share the research with the community at large in ways that can benefit people's lives practically". The institute was set up in memory of Dharam, Srichand's son, who died in mysterious circumstances with severe burns in his 20s after fleeing his family in disgrace with a non-Hindu lover.

The Hindujas developed further links with Cambridge theologians when they contributed to the £7.2 million raised for the new faculty of divinity building. They also fund two Dharam Hinduja scholarships "in collaboration with the Hinduja Cambridge Trust", and Srichand Hinduja sits on the advisory board for Cambridge's Centre for International Business and Management.

Whether Cambridge will come to regret its acceptance of the Hinduja shilling, as corruption charges are heard against them in their native India, remains to be seen.