SC keeps Lodha on hook

THE SUPREME Court on Friday upheld the criminal case against R.S. Lodha and his three associates, Shivnath Prasad, V. Gourishankar and Sushil Kumar Daga.

THE SUPREME Court on Friday upheld the criminal case against R.S. Lodha and his three associates, Shivnath Prasad, V. Gourishankar and Sushil Kumar Daga.

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Lodha and his associates have been charged with forgery, cheating, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and destruction of evidence to grab the Rs 2,400-crore estate of M.P. Birla Trusts by a will purportedly made by Priyamvada Birla in 1999. The offences are punishable by seven years in jail.

Justices B.P. Singh and S.H. Kapadia shot down two SLPs filed by Prasad and Gourishankar for quashing the proceedings and said: "Questions of Trusts need to be fully inquired into on evidence by the trial court. Only a few witnesses have been examined.