ED arrests ex-director of Lodha Developers Ltd in Rs 85 crore money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday formally arrested a former director of real estate company Lodha Developers Limited in an alleged money laundering case of Rs 85 crore. The ED case against 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. He was arrested in the crime branch case in September last year and has been in judicial custody since then. The ED, probing the money laundering case, produced him before a special court hearing cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on a production remand and placed him under arrest there. As per the procedure, he will be produced before the ED court on Friday for his first remand. The ED has alleged that Rajendra Lodha, who was appointed as a director of the company in 2015, overstepped his limited authority - originally restricted only to land acquisition - to orchestrate a series of unauthorised transactions. He colluded with his son, Sahil Lodha, 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 that 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 also facilitated benami transactions, siphoned off funds through controlled entities, and utilised company resources for personal benefit and for entities linked to his family, it said Rajendra 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. As per the probe agency, the total wrongful loss caused to Lodha Developers Ltd 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 sq meters of company land in Panvel was sold to a front entity for just Rs 48 lakh, despite a market value of approximately Rs 10 crore, causing a direct loss of Rs 9.50 crore. The ED found a structured ''bogus possession/barter deal'' mechanism, where forged MoUs were used to falsely claim individuals as possession holders. The probe also revealed that the land purchased in 2013 in the name of a company employee, Mangesh Puranik, was fraudulently transferred to Lodha's associates after Puranik's death and then resold to the company for a massive profit.