Prominent Pune-based businessman and hotelier Ajay Chordia was found hanging in the room of a luxury hotel in the township of Pimpri-Chinchwad on Monday.
According to the Pimpri-Chinchwad police, Mr. Chordia (47) apparently committed suicide sometime in the afternoon in a room of the Double Tree hotel which he owned.
“Mr. Chordia’s body was found sometime between 2 p.m. and 3p.m. The motive remains unclear. Investigations are on,” said Inspector of the Pimpri police station, B. Mudiraj, speaking to The Hindu.
Mr. Chordia was the chairman and managing director of the luxury chain of Panchshil Hotels, which recently partnered with Hilton Hotels & Resorts to launch Double Tree.
Mr. Chordia, along with his brother Atul, managed the real estate firm, Panchsil Realty, looking after the firm’s interests in Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The family is noted for its particularly close ties with the Nationalist Congress Party and its chief Sharad Pawar. Mr. Chordia’s father, Ishwardas, a sugar trader, was a college buddy of Mr. Pawar.
The firm made news in 2011 after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Eknath Khadse called attention to stock held in the firm by Mr. Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, and her husband, Sadanand.
At the time, Mr. Khadse had pointed out that the Panchsil Tech Park was located on the same, controversial survey number in Pune’s Yerawada area which was close to an under- construction commercial complex owned by DB Realty, one of whose promoters was entrepreneur Shahid Balwa, a key accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Mr. Khadse had alleged that it was Mr. Balwa who had applied for an environmental clearance for both Panchshil Tech Park, as well as DB’s commercial complex. Mr. Atul Chordia had denied any truck with the DB group.
The Panchshil Group has built several residential projects and IT parks in the city’s posh neighbourhoods and operates three five-star hotels in and around Pune.
