MUMBAI: A special court on Thursday awarded custody of developer Rajendra Lodha to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a money laundering investigation against him in connection with allegations that he had caused wrongful loss of more than ₹100 crore to Lodha Developers Limited (LDL) when he was on the company’s board of directors.
Lodha, who has been in judicial custody, was produced in court on Thursday. The ED will produce him in court for remand on Friday, ED sources said.
The ED’s probe is based on a Mumbai police case registered with the NM Joshi Marg Police in September 2025 against ten accused, including Lodha and his son, based on a complaint from the company.
According to the first information report (FIR), Lodha and the other accused had sold several LDL properties at cheap rates, causing a loss of more than ₹100 crore to the company. They were accordingly booked for cheating, abuse of official position, unauthorised sale of assets and creation of false documents under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Lodha was arrested shortly after the FIR was registered.
The ED’s probe revealed that Lodha was involved in siphoning funds and assets of LDL through unauthorised sale and transfer of company owned immovable properties at undervalued prices. ED officials said the properties were sold to proxy entities and individuals connected to him without the approval of the board of directors.
He was also allegedly involved in fabricating memorandums of understanding for land purchase at inflated prices and subsequently siphoning the inflated sums through sellers, according to the ED.
In July 2025, LDL learnt that Lodha allegedly owned more property than his known sources of income, including a 5,900-square metre plot, which he had sold in August 2023 to a certain S Jadhav for ₹88 lakh. The plot, located close to the upcoming Virar-Alibag multi-modal corridor, was resold within ten months for a whopping ₹10.88 crore, the ED found during its probe. When LDL asked Lodha to furnish details about his assets and properties, he resigned from the company, officials said.