MUMBAI: A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Monday rejected former Lodha Developers director Rajendra Lodha’s plea for interim bail to attend his father’s final rites, but permitted him to travel to Rajasthan under police escort to perform the ceremonies.Rajendra Lodha allowed escorted travel for father’s final ritesSpecial Judge RB Rote allowed Lodha to visit Jaipur and Jodhpur between June 2 and June 5 for the asthi visarjan and other rituals of his father, Narpatmal Lodha, who died on May 22.Lodha had sought interim bail till June 6 to attend the ceremonies. Opposing the plea, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) argued that the case involved a “serious economic offence” and said there was a risk of the accused absconding or delaying the trial if released.A similar plea had been rejected earlier. “This Court has already rejected the prayer of interim bail. Therefore, it cannot be granted to the applicant,” the judge observed.The court, however, took note of the fact that Lodha had previously been allowed to attend his father’s funeral and prayer meeting under escort. It observed that, “being a son, the applicant intends to attend the last rites of Asthi Visarjan and rituals of 12th and 13th day of his father”.The money laundering case stems from allegations that Lodha, who was entrusted with acquiring land parcels for the company, abused his position by executing unauthorised transactions, creating forged and backdated documents, diverting company funds, and transferring valuable land and development rights to entities allegedly controlled by him and his associates.The ED launched its probe after Mumbai Police registered criminal cases based on complaints filed by the company. According to the agency, the alleged transactions caused wrongful losses exceeding ₹85 crore to Macrotech Developers and generated substantial proceeds of crime.Earlier this year, the ED arrested Lodha under the PMLA and later attached assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees allegedly linked to the case.In its order, the court directed Lodha to bear the expenses of the police escort and cautioned that he “shall not misuse the liberty granted to him and shall not commit any act disturbing the public peace”.