Ajay Chordia's death remains shrouded in mystery

Chordia is reported to have committed suicide by hanging himself at a VIP room in a hotel he owned

Questions remained unanswered regarding suicide of city-based hotelier Ajay Chordia (48), chairman and managing director of Panchshil Hotels and brother of Atul Chordia, chairman of Panchasil Realty. He was found dead in his hotel, Double Tree Hilton in Chinchwad on Monday afternoon.

Panchshil Realty is a major player in developing luxury homes in Pune and recently joined hands with The Trump Organisation to develop Trump Towers in Pune. Panchshil Realty own around a dozen residential projects and three five-star hotels in and around Pune.

Unlike the promoters of Panchasil Realty, not much is known about Ajay Chodia and his business  in the city real estate circles. According to sources, Ajay was not closely involved in the real estate business of Panchashil Group. He looked after Hotel Panchashil in Chinchwad town.

Panchshil Hotels had recently tied up with Hilton Hotels & Resorts to launch Double Tree.

“Chordia committed suicide at around 2:30pm by hanging himself at a VIP room in hotel Double Tree. We are investigating the case,” said B Mudiraj, police inspector, Pimpri police station.

According to Prakash Mutyal,  additional commissioner of police (north region), Pune police,  Chordia reached DoubleTree in Chinchwad around 12.30 pm. His staff found him hanging near the emergency staircase around 2 pm. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

According to sources, Ajay was never in the news and is not much known in real estate circles of Pune. Also, he was not closely in the real estate business of Panchashil Group as well. He was only looking after the Double Tree by Hilton in Chinchwad town.

Chordia family is known to have close relations with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. Ajay Chordia’s father Ishwardas and  Pawar were college batchmates.