Paras Mal Lodha
Paras Mal Lodha
Personal Life
Paras is originally from the Churu district of Rajastan. He moved to Kolkata with one of his distant relatives in 1977, the year in which the Left came to power in West Bengal. [1]
Career
Mr. Lodha, who had business interests in both real estate and informal money-lending.
His ability to add unauthorised extra floors to under-construction buildings and having them legalised by using his connections with the civic authorities and police earned Paras Mal Lodha the nickname of ‘Extra Floor Lodha’.
2016 Arrest
On December 28, 2016 Parasmal Lodha and the Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon were arrested after setting up an elaborate network to convert crores of rupees of the now illegitimate Rs 500 notes to remonetised bank notes. [0]
Paras Mal Lodha was held from Mumbai by the Enforcement Directorate, after they recovered huge cache of new currency notes of Rs 500 & and Rs 2, 000 from a Delhi law firm which belonged to advocate Rohit Tandon and Chennai based businessman Sekhar Reddy. I-T officials also claimed that they have seized Rs 132 crore in currency notes including Rs 34 crore in 2,000 notes, and 177 kg gold, from 14 of Reddy’s premises. [0]
On December 28, 2016 a branch manager of the Kotak Mahindra Bank in the national capital has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with in connection with Paras Mal Lodha & Rohit Tandon cases.
“He got very close to Chennai-based sand mining tycoon J. Sekhar Reddy, who was arrested by the C.B.I., and I think Reddy divulged his links with hawala operators who convert black assets,” said a city-based police officer. [1]
Before moving into real estate and money-lending, he also sold foreign goods, including perfumes and watches. “He was well-connected to several senior officials of the Kolkata Police and had strong connections in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which he used for legalising unauthorised floors in buildings,” said one of his acquaintances. [1]
As per ‘The Indian Express’ report, ED sources that the “digital diary” of Parasmal Lodha also revealed he was offering services to several personalities.
As per his WhatsApp chats, it was believed that he was offering conversion of notes at the rate of 20-25 percent.
After the raid on Tandon’s law firm, it was found that Lodha deleted several data from both his phones but the ED took help of experts, to retrieve them back.
Taking the probe further, ED teams from Delhi and Kolkata conducted raids both at Parasmal Lodha’s residence and office in Kolkata yesterday.
Criminal Connections
Mr. Lodha’s rise in the city’s real estate business in the 1980s came as a result of his close proximity with the then Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government. [1]
Paras's first encounter with the law took place in the 1990s, when he allegedly tried to use gangsters to intimidate P.C.
Sen, then managing director of the Peerless General Finance and Investment Co. Ltd., in a bid to take over the company.
At that time, the company was one of the largest non-banking financial institutions.
His efforts ultimately proved to be futile.
In later years, he moved to ‘settle’ the black assets of industrialists across the country.
Mr. Lodha was again embroiled in controversy when his name cropped-up in the Stephen Court fire incident in Park Street in 2010, in which 43 people died.
He allegedly constructed two extra floors in the landmark building.
However, he was able to distance himself from the incident.
College
According to those close to him, Mr. Lodha’s acumen in business became apparent from his college days.
A commerce graduate from a renowned college in Kolkata, Mr. Lodha used to sell foreign magazines to his classmates at high prices.