Security covers for 40 Mumbai builders withdrawn

Police protection for more than 40 Mumbai-based builders, including the Lodha brothers, has been withdrawn after the latest audit by Mumbai police revealed no “imminent threat perception” to these builders, according to a national daily report.

Some of the prominant names featuring in the list are Rakesh, Dheeraj, Kapil and Sarang Wadhawan of HDIL; Abhishek and Abhinandan Lodha, the two sons of BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha of the Lodha group; Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa of DB Realty; owners of Unity Infraprojects Ltd and the Sethi group, among others.

Other developers stripped of police security are Gaurav Porwal, Ghulam Rassiwala, Piramals, owners of Kaanchwala Group, Sooraj Moochala, Yusuf Sheikh and Ganesh Gupta, according to the report.

However, Mangal Prabhat Lodha and industrialist Nusli Wadia are among the builders who will continue to move under police cover.

The report said the move will make the state exchequer richer by Rs 1 lakh per month per person that the government spends on each of them for providing police protection.