RS Lodha, inheritor to Priyamvada Birla wealth, dead

Rajendra Lodha, the claimant to the will and wealth of Birla matriarch Priyamvada Birla, died in London on Friday. Lodha is reported to have suffered a heart attack.

Priyamvada Birla, wife of industrialist M P Birla - head of one of India's biggest business conglomerates - died two years ago, leaving all her fortune to her lawyer, Rajendra Lodha.

In 2006, Lodha, had claimed that the entire estate worth over Rs 5,000 crore was willed away to him by Priyamvada, obtained a reprieve from the court to retain his position as the chairman of the company.

Lodha got embroiled in a major controversy when the disputed Birla, chairperson of the Birla group, bequeathed the entire assets of the M P Birla group to him.

Birla's demise in July 2004 was followed by intense litigation after Lodha applied for the probate of a purported will which itself became a matter of dispute. Senior members of the Birla clan had filed appeals in the Calcutta High Court.