Paras Mal Lodha helped exchange almost 7 crores of old notes for new ones.
Kolkata-based real estate developer Paras Mal Lodha, arrested for allegedly converting over Rs 25 crore in banned currency into new notes, has been remanded in seven-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate.
In a Delhi court today, the Enforcement Directorate said that Mr Lodha's name had cropped up during the interrogation of Chennai-based sand mining baron J Sekhar Reddy from whose house tax officials had recovered over 100 crores and in the statement of south Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon, from whose office premises tax officers had recovered almost Rs 14 crore of unaccounted wealth.
Significantly, as per the Enforcement Directorate, which was also probing these cases, Mr Lodha helped exchange almost 7 crores of old notes for new ones for Sekhar Reddy and almost 3 crores of old notes for new 2,000 rupee notes for Rohit Tandon.
The Enforcement Directorate told the court that they needed to question Mr Lodha to find out about hawala operators, working both within the country as well as outside, who were helping out black money hoarders.
Mr Lodha, represented by his lawyer, told the court that he was coerced to admit his involvement in these illegal acts.
Paras Mal Lodha came into the limelight in 1991 when he took over Peerless General Finance and Investment Company Limited, which was then the country's largest non-banking financial institution.