R.S. Lodha

Calcutta, Oct. 3: Eminent industrialist Rajendra Singh Lodha, 66, died of a massive cardiac arrest at the central London residence of Basant Kumar Birla on Friday morning.

“We were having tea and discussing various issues in a very congenial atmosphere. He suddenly started feeling uncomfortable and collapsed,” B.K. Birla told The Telegraph from London.

According to him, Lodha himself had called up the Birlas on Friday morning and sought an appointment. He reached the Birla flat at around 8.30 a.m.

“We called up the hospital immediately and the medical staff arrived within a few minutes. They were not sure whether he was still alive and rushed him to the hospital. On reaching the hospital, he was declared brought dead,” said Birla, who along with his wife, Sarla Birla, went to the hospital.

The 88-year-old industrialist is leading the Birla family’s challenge to Lodha’s claim to the MP Birla group which is bequeathed to him under a controversial and disputed will of Priyamvada Birla. Lodha was once a trusted chartered accountant of several Birla companies.

Priyamvada Birla was the wife of the late Madhav Prasad Birla. She died in July 2004. Her will sparked a bitter battle between the Birlas and Lodha.

The Birla family’s bid to protect the estate of Priyamvada Birla suffered a setback recently when the Supreme Court dismissed three petitions that challenged the Calcutta High Court order which denied them the right to object to her purported 1999 will.

“We used to meet off and on and it is really sad that he died at our flat,” said Birla. The “battle of wills” was no longer “important” for him, he said.

A Birla family insider, however, said the litigation would take a new turn as Priyamvada Birla’s will of 1999 was silent on the eventuality arising out of Lodha’s death.

Lodha is survived by two sons — Aditya Vikram and Harsh Vardhan — daughter Meenakshi and his mother Sushila.

Lodha was the chairman of the MP Birla group, which includes the flagship Birla Corporation, Universal Cables Ltd and Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd.

Besides, the group runs several medical and educational institutions, including Bombay Hospital in Mumbai and Indore, MP Birla Planetarium, Belle Vue Clinic and South Point School in Calcutta.

A former senior partner of Lodha & Co, a chartered accountant firm that has offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Jaipur, Lodha served as the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and was on the boards of several companies.

He had served as a director on the central board of the State Bank of India as well as on its executive committee for six years from 1995 to 2001.

Lodha, who had close ties with L.N. Mittal, had handled several GDR issues by Indian companies, and he was regarded an expert in the area.

“He had a very sharp mind and his knowledge was not limited to the world of business,” said a city industrialist, who knew Lodha closely.

According to family sources, Lodha had left on a business tour to Europe on September 24 and had planned to return to Calcutta after the Pujas. His younger son Harsh Vardhan later joined him.

The family is trying to bring Lodha’s body to Calcutta where the last rites will be performed.