Lodha case adjourned till Dec 14

A city court on Monday adjourned the hearing of a criminal case against R S Lodha till December 14 as Lodha and three others, accused of fraud and criminal conspiracy by the Birlas, were yet to receive notice in the matter.

Lodha, S P Prasad and V Gaurishankar did not appear in the court, nor were they represented before the SDJM, Mohd Mumtaz Khan, as notice was not yet served on them.

The fourth accused, S K Daga, was represented in court by his lawyer who claimed that he appeared as he had heard the direction during the last hearing on October 5.

Birla vs Lodha: War over a will

Appearing for the petitioner, Rajinder Prasad Pansari, advocate Mahesh Jethmalani sought issuance of search warrant against Lodha and Prasad claiming that notice could not be served on them as their residences were found locked.

He, however, agreed to wait in the case of Gaurishankar, who resides in Delhi, for some more time for serving of the notice to him. Daga's advocate Ashok Mukherjee opposed the plea of Jethmalani and prayed for adjournment of date as notice was yet to be received by his client.

Hearing both the parties, the court adjourned the hearing till December 14. The Birlas accused Lodha of committing a fraud on Priyamvada Birla, who, by a purported will had bequeathed all assets of the M P Birla group to him.