Rajendra Lodha, former director of the Lodha Developers Limited, was formally arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday in connection with an alleged Rs 85-crore money laundering case linked to suspected fraudulent land and financial transactions.
The arrest follows an earlier case registered by the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police. The charges included cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery.
Lodha was taken into custody by the Crime Branch in September and has remained in judicial custody since, officials said.
The ED initiated its investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on the First Information Report, treating it as the predicate offence required to probe the alleged laundering of proceeds of crime.
Investigators said Lodha was authorised to identify and facilitate land acquisitions for the real estate company, but is alleged to have misused his position to execute unauthorised transactions and divert company funds. These dealings allegedly resulted in losses estimated at over Rs 85 crore to the firm.
The agency suspects that a network of front entities and associates was used to route transactions, conceal ownership and generate unlawful gains.
Investigators allege that certain land parcels and development rights were transferred at undervalued rates to favoured entities, with the differential amounts siphoned off through layered financial arrangements.
The alleged irregularities are said to span several years and involve land transactions across parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region -- including areas such as Thane, Kalyan and Panvel.
Authorities have unearthed fabricated agreements, benami transactions and misuse of company resources to disguise the diversion of funds.
As part of the probe, the ED had conducted searches at multiple locations linked to Lodha and his associates to trace assets believed to be connected to the alleged proceeds of crime. During these operations, investigators seized and froze assets valued at around Rs 59 crore, officials said.
The case reportedly came to light after internal scrutiny within the company flagged certain transactions, following which a complaint was lodged with law-enforcement authorities. The firm has said that it is cooperating with the investigation.
