PMLA Court Remands Former Lodha Developers' Director To ED Custody Till February 20 In ₹85 Crore Money Laundering Case

Mumbai: A special PMLA court in Mumbai on Friday sent a former director of real estate company Lodha Developers Ltd to Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s custody till February 20 in an alleged money laundering case of Rs 85 crore. The ED case against the accused, Rajendra Lodha, is based on a cheating and forgery case filed under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) by the Mumbai police's crime branch.

He was arrested in the crime branch's cheating and forgery case in September last year and has been in jail under judicial custody since then. The ED formally arrested him on Thursday in the money laundering case. The federal probe agency produced him before special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Judge R B Rote on Friday and sought remand for investigation into the money laundering case.

The ED has alleged that Lodha, appointed a director in the company in 2015, overstepped his limited authority - originally restricted only to land acquisition - to orchestrate a series of unauthorized transactions. He colluded with his son, Sahil, and close associates to generate, conceal and launder proceeds of crime causing substantial wrongful loss to the company, the ED has alleged.

The probe agency emphasised he orchestrated diversion of company funds through bogus possession holders and fabricated MOUs, withdrew funds in cash and unlawfully alienated company land and Transferable Development Rights (TDRs) at undervalued rates. He facilitated benami (proxy) transactions, siphoned funds through controlled entities, and utilised company resources for personal benefit and for entities linked to his family, according to the ED.

Lodha facilitated fraudulent and undervalued allotment of residential flats under forged and fabricated permanent alternate accommodation agreements, without any lawful entitlement, causing wrongful gain to his associates, the financial investigation agency claimed. As per the ED, the total wrongful loss caused to Lodha Developers was more than Rs 85 crore. The ED highlighted several key methods used by the accused to generate and launder the "proceeds of crime": In one such instance, Lodha allegedly bypassed the company to purchase land through front entities like Usha Properties and Shreeram Realties.

These lands were later resold to Lodha Developers at grossly inflated prices. Similarly 4,150 square meters of company land in Panvel in Navi Mumbai was sold to a front entity for just Rs 48 lakh against a market value of about Rs 10 crore, causing a direct loss of Rs 9.50 crore, it said. The ED found a structured "bogus possession/barter deal" mechanism where forged MoUs were used to falsely claim individuals as possession holders. Further, the probe has revealed that a land parcel purchased in 2013 in the name of a company employee, Mangesh Puranik, was fraudulently transferred to Lodha's associates after the staffer's death and then resold to the real estate firm for a massive profit, said the central agency.

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