Prominent city-based businessman and hotelier Ajay Chordia was found hanging in the room of a luxury hotel that he owned in the township of Pimpri-Chinchwad on Monday.
According to the Pimpri-Chinchwad police, Chordia (47) apparently committed suicide in the Double Tree hotel.
“His body was found sometime between 2 p.m. and 3p.m. The motive remains unclear. Investigations are on,” Inspector of the Pimpri police station, B. Mudiraj, told The Hindu .
Chordia was the chairman and managing director of the Panchshil chain of luxury hotels, which recently partnered with Hilton Hotels & Resorts to launch Double Tree. With his brother Atul, Ajay Chordia managed the real estate firm, Panchshil 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. Chordia’s father, Ishwardas, a sugar trader, was a college friend of Mr. Pawar’s.
The firm made news in 2011 after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Eknath Khadse called attention to the stocks Mr. Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and her husband Sadanand held in the firm.
