Lodha cheating case: ED searches 14 premises

The Enforcement Directorate conducted searches in Mumbai linked to Rajendra Lodha's alleged money-laundering and cheating case involving ₹85 crore losses.

MUMBAI: Searches were conducted at 14 locations in Mumbai and adjoining areas on Wednesday, as part of a money-laundering investigation, in a case involving developer Rajendra Lodha for allegedly cheating Lodha Developers Limited, when he was on its board of directors.

Lodha cheating case: ED searches 14 premises

The searches were conducted by the Mumbai unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), on an investigation by the police. Based on a complaint from the firm, police had arrested Lodha in September. They had charged him with criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and criminal intimidation, among other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

ED sources said Wednesday’s searches were linked to persons in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), who were accused along with Lodha in the cheating case. The ED also recorded the statement of a suspect, who is the brother of a former legislator from Thane.

In the First Information Report (FIR), registered in September with the N M Joshi Marg police in Mumbai, it was alleged that Lodha had sold several Lodha properties at cheap rates, causing a loss of ₹85 crore to the company. Apart from him, the police had booked several others including his son Sahil, B Narsana, N Wador, R Narsana, N Menon, N Desai, A Kamble, S Singh and Vinod Patil. Some of those booked were employees of the company and had allegedly helped Lodha, according to the police.

Lodha began working with Lodha Developers Limited in 1990 and became a director of the company in 2015. From 2021, he also became a promoter and was given the right to purchase land for the group. This did not include the right to sell it.

In July 2025, the Lodha group allegedly learnt that Rajendra Lodha owned more property than his known sources of income, and asked him to furnish details, after which he resigned. Among the alleged under-valuations perpetrated by him was a 5,900-square-metre plot, which he sold in August 2023 to a certain S Jadhav for ₹88 lakh.

The proposed Virar-Alibaug Multi-Modal Corridor Project is expected to pass close to the property, which would greatly enhance its value, police had said. Jadhav allegedly sold the land within ten months, for ₹10.88 crore, a police officer had said in September.

In 2022, when Lodha was a partner with an infotech entity while still with Lodha Developers, he allegedly sold a land parcel in Bhopar village in Panvel for ₹2.75 crore. Since the value of the land was ₹9 crore, he had allegedly caused a loss of ₹6.25 crore to Lodha Developers.