Who are Pradip Burman, Radha Timblo and Pankaj Lodhiya?

Everything you need to know about the three names in the black money case revealed by the government to Supreme Court.

Pradip Burman

Pradip Burman belongs to one of India’s most illustrious business families, one which runs the noted Dabur brand of mostly Ayurveda-based FMCG products, including such iconic brands as Dabur Chyawanprash to Dabur Amla Hair Oil. 

The Burman family started out in Kolkata and only a few years moved headquarters to Kaushambi, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, where the area is now commonly known as Dabur Chowk. 

Pradip Burman completed his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at the highly-regarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge/Boston, USA.

He joined the family business in what was then Calcutta as a management trainee in 1967, where he continued till 1970, getting training in Ayurveda. 

For the next seven years, he was Special Officer at Dabur overseeing engineering and manufacturing aspects of the company. In 1977, he was appointed a Director of Dabur India Ltd, and designated overall Profit Centre head, a position he held for the next four years. 

In 1981, he became Managing Director of Vidogum and Chemicals Ltd., a new Public Limited Company, set up in technical collaboration with Unipektin AG, Zurich - Switzerland, manufacturer of Guar Gum. 

His diversification continued when in 1991 he became Chairman of Delhi-based Ayurvet Limited, a marketing company that was responsible for the sales, distribution and promotion of herbal veterinary products of Dabur India. 

In 1995, Burman set up Sanat Products Limited, which produced Spirulina – which is used both as a dietary supplement for humans as well as a feed supplement for fishes and pultry – and herbal extracts. 

In 1995, he reverted to a directorship at Dabur India, where he was once again profit centre head for the Natural Gum Division at Alwar Works, manufacture of Guar Gum, Psyllium husk and Veterinary medicines at the plant in Sahibabad and Alwar. 

Burman continued to be a director of the company through 2012. He is currently founder-chairman of Sundesh, a non-profit organization that works on education of rural women. 

Pankaj Lodhiya

Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya is the chairman of the Shreeji Group of companies based out of Rajkot, the fourth largest city in Gujarat. 

The Shreeji Group has three main businesses – Shreeji Trading Company, Shreeji Ornaments Pvt Ltd and Shreeji Realty – although its roots are in real estate. 

According to the group’s website – whose ‘About Us’ section now has an error page – the company is one of the pioneers of high-rises in the city, and has completed nearly eight residential and commercial projects in Rajkot. 

Its jewellery arm, Shreeji Ornaments, is into processing as well as retail trading of diamond jewellery, gold ornaments and silver products, selling these under the ‘Tatva’ brand. It also supplies semi-processed gold ornaments to jewellers and showrooms in the city. 

The group has also been in bullion trading for the past 15 years, and claims to be one of India’s leading bullion dealers, catering to gold requirements of Rajkot and with a strong presence in wholesale bullion market of Rajkot, which is a national hub for gold ornaments.

It also has branches at Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Jaipur, Raipur, Indore and Bangalore. 

In 2008, the company claims to have set up India's first state of the art, fully electronic, over the counter, spot precious metals online trading system called ‘Shreeji SPOT’.

The system claims to provide access to real time 'two-way' Indian bullion price quotes for everyone in the bullion ecosystem – jewellers, banks and investors.

Shreeji SPOT claims to have more than 2,100 registered clients with centres in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kolkata, Jaipur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Indore, with plans to expand into at least nine other cities, including Chennai, Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam. 

Radha Satish Timblo

Of the three persons named in the central government’s affidavit, Radha Satish Timblo is the only woman. She belongs to the reputed Timblo family of Goa, which also runs the Cicade de Goa hotel in Dona Paula. 

She is a minority partner in M/s Badruddin Hussain Bhai Mavani, the other partner being M/s Timblo Pvt Ltd with a 95% stake. The firm, however, has a troubled past, with a Central Empowered Committee – an environment panel set up by the Supreme Court – looking into illegal mining in the state of Goa making special note of the lease held by M/S Timblo Pvt Ltd.

The CEC’s interim report in December 2012 alleged that the ownership of the mining lease had been illegally taken over by the Timblo family using a power of attorney.

Further, the CEC noted that a power of attorney in favour of Radha Timblo had been taken from one Badrudin Hussain Bhai Mavani without the signature of any witnesses, nor was it registered or notarised.

Mavani is alleged to have died in Karachi, Pakistan. Further, the signature of Mavani is said not to match and earlier signature on another power of attorney document signed in 1979. 

“The mining lease has been allowed to be operated illegally by a partnership firm comprising of M/s Timblo Pvt. Ltd., Smt. Radha S. Timblo and others. The mining lease has been renewed… by disregarding and in blatant violation of Rule 37, MCR, 1960 and on the basis of an unregistered Power of Attorney, stated to have been executed by the lessee while staying in Pakistan and whose genuineness and validity was highly dubious and doubtful,” the report found.