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Informist, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

NEW DELHI – In relief to successful resolution applicant Lodha Developers Ltd., the Supreme Court has ordered release of the attachment of corporate debtor V Hotels Ltd.'s 12 properties in Maharashtra by the Enforcement Directorate. "The attached properties, which stand substituted with a deposit in terms of this court's order dated 02.07.2025(Jul. 2, 2025), are directed to be restored to the SRA (successful resolution applicant), who stepped into the shoes of the corporate debtor (V Hotels), upon successful resolution by the corporate insolvency resolution process," the apex court said.

The benefit of Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ,given to Lodha Developers is subject to the condition that the company is neither connected with the erstwhile directors of V Hotels, nor is a beneficiary of proceeds of the crime arising from the alleged scheduled offence. If this foundation is eroded in the ongoing investigation, the Enforcement Directorate would be free to take appropriate steps in accordance with law, including questioning the resolution plan, said the top court.

Any challenge of the Enforcement Directorate to the approval of the resolution plan by the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai, shall stand closed and accordingly, the agency will have no right or lien either on the properties of V Hotels attached in 2024 or on any other assets of the corporate debtor that form part of the resolution plan, said the top court. "The amounts deposited by the Respondent No. 2 (Lodha Developers) with the Directorate of Enforcement, in terms of this court's directions dated 02.07.2025 (Jul. 2, 2025), shall be released to the Respondent No. 2 along with accrued interest, if any, within a period of two weeks from the date of this order," it said.

The court directed that V Hotels be removed from the list of accused in the Enforcement Directorate's case while continuing with the prosecution of the erstwhile directors and persons in control or conspirators or abettors and confiscation of their attached properties. "This order is being passed based on the peculiar facts of the case and with the consent of the parties under the second proviso to sub-Section (8) of Section 8 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), and shall not be treated as a precedent and the questions of law shall remain open to be decided in an appropriate case," said the court.

On Jul. 2, the Supreme Court had asked Lodha Developers to deposit INR 5.2 billion within four weeks as security for lifting the Enforcement Directorate's attachment of V Hotels Ltd.'s 12 properties in Maharashtra. In a filing to the National Stock Exchange, Lodha Developers said that upon deposit of this amount, there would be no other claim on V Hotels' properties or other assets.

The apex court was hearing a petition by the Enforcement Directorate challenging the Bombay High Court's 2024 ruling that had set aside the attachment of V Hotels' properties. The agency had launched an investigation into the former promoters of V Hotels, including the Kerkar family, over alleged transactions within the Cox & Kings group amounting to INR 5.20 billion, which were allegedly routed through V Hotels before the company entered insolvency.

The high court had held that once a resolution plan was approved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and a new management took charge, the corporate debtor's assets get immunity from further prosecution or proceedings. In this case, the National Company Law Tribunal had approved Lodha Developers' resolution plan for the debt-ridden V Hotels in April 2024. Once the law was clear, the probe agency's attachment, either provisionally or otherwise, couldn't continue even a day longer after the approval of the resolution plan, the high court had said.

At 0925 IST, shares of Lodha Developers were 0.1% higher at INR 1,164.70 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Subhojit Sarkar

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