Paras S Porwal was a famous Indian Mumbai-based real estate developer. He came into limelight on October 20, 2022 when he committed suicide by jumping from his 23rd floor flat in Chinchpokli Tower in South Mumbai, where he lived with his family. According to the police report and his suicide note, Paras S Porwal took the extreme step as he was facing huge financial losses in several of his business projects.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Paras Shantilal Porwal was born in 1965 (age 57 at the time of death) in Jalore, Rajasthan. Paras S Porwal grew up in Jalore, Rajasthan. He moved to Mumbai in the early 1980s and lived with his sister’s family in a chawl in Ambewadi in Kalachowki, Mumbai area.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
His mother’s name is Shanti Devi. He has a sister.
wife and children
His wife’s name is Manju Porwal. The couple has a son and a daughter named Ronnie and Rikki respectively. His daughter-in-law’s name is Aakriti.
Address
He lived on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd floors of Shantikamal Co-operative Housing Society in South Mumbai, India.
livelihood
real estate
After coming to Mumbai from Rajasthan, he started working as a fake jewelery seller in local trains in Mumbai. He used to spend his nights sleeping outside shops in Kalachowki area of Mumbai. As time passed, he started working as a real estate broker in the early 1980s. BJP secretary and former MLA from Kankavli assembly constituency, Pramod Jathar, mentioned in a media interaction that Gundecha Developers had given Paras his first commission for selling flats in a project. Pramod Jathar and Paras worked as partners in several redevelopment projects in central Mumbai. Pramod Jathar was remembered,
His beginnings were humble. He initially used to sell fake jewelery in trains and sleep outside shops in Kalachowki. Gradually he started real estate brokerage business. Around 1985, Paras Gundecha of Gundecha Developers, who was also from Jalore, gave him his first commission for selling flats in a project.”
After this, Paras S Porwal started selling plots in Mumbai and started working for a construction company. He began providing flooring tiles to other developers. In 1998, he got a big opportunity in his career when he got a redevelopment project called Bavlawadi Redevelopment Project opposite Voltas Tower in Parel, which was provided to him by Paras Gundecha. He was a resident of Balewadi Chawl at that time. Pramod Jathar said,
I was the secretary of the chawl society. Paras offered to call a developer to redevelop the chawls. Later, we decided to redevelop it ourselves.
In the same discussion, Pramod Jathar said that in the 1990s, the development control regulation policies were amended by the state government, and this amendment allowed the redevelopment of old buildings owned by the BMC. Paras S Porwal and Pramod Jathar started working closely with the BMC reform committee soon after the amendments were announced. Porwal is known for several large redevelopment projects such as Kach Kharkhana in Wadala and Prerana Society Redevelopment on Sasmira Institute Road in Worli Naka.
Politics
Paras S Porwal had contested the 2004 assembly elections from Mazgaon assembly constituency in Mumbai on a Samajwadi Party ticket. His rival Bala Nandgaonkar (who later joined Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) defeated him in the election. Porwal’s rivals were Nandgaonkar (Shiv Sena) and Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), two contestants from the Mazagon assembly constituency. He got 7,888 votes in the election.
Controversy
He came into controversy in 2018 when the Bombay High Court accused him of fraud and cheating cases and real estate scam. Mumbai Police registered a case against him for listing sixty-two fake companies in the Gandhi Nagar project in Worli, Mumbai. He created these fake companies to claim additional ‘floor space index’ from the state government.
Death
On 20 October 2022, Paras S Porwal jumped from the 21st floor of Shantikamal Cooperative Housing Society in South Mumbai, India at 6 am. The priest of a temple built in the society premises saw his body lying soaked in blood. Paras was the owner of this society and the building was constructed by his company, Om Shanti Universal Private Limited. An accidental death report (ADR) was lodged at Kalachowki police station after his death. The police report states that Paras jumped from the gym area of his home and left a suicide note before dying. He wrote many pages of his diary in Hindi and Gujarati languages for his family members. Police said,
When we searched his house, we found a ‘suicide note’ in the gymnasium area, which read, ‘No one is responsible for my death and no one should be questioned about it.’ The note also contained some words of guidance for his son Ronnie.
Police said that after the suicide of Paras S Porwal, he was taken to the nearest hospital, but he died after reaching the hospital. Police said,
A temple priest heard a loud noise and later saw Porwal lying in a pool of blood. The priest immediately informed his family members and Porwal was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
His funeral was attended by many well-known political leaders from Mumbai, such as BJP’s Kalidas Kolambkar, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s Ajay Choudhary and Dagdu Sakpal.
Shanti Kamal Housing Society, where the deceased lived
Facts/General Knowledge
- Paras S Porwal is known for his kind nature towards the residents of the redeveloped society. According to one of his close associates, before starting the redevelopment project, Porwal used to seek permission from tenants and the BMC. Only after getting approval, he used to sell these projects to big construction companies. For example, once, Porwal acted as a mediator and left the project by selling the Prerna Society redevelopment project to Sugi Developers.
- Talking to the media, a member of his family told that Paras S Porwal was a disciple of Sant Shantisuri Maharaj of Rajasthan. Reportedly, all his manufacturing companies were named after his religious guru. In the early years of his career he named his first construction company ‘Om Shanti Construction Private Limited’ after his mentor.
- At his company’s office in Byculla East in Mumbai, he has more than fifty employees. After his death, one of his employees revealed the list of projects Porwal was working on before his suicide. The employee said,
He had two projects in Ambewadi, Kalachowki, Jijamata Nagar, Subhedar Nagar, Worli and Chembur and one in Mahim.
- Paras S Porwal was a popular and generous philanthropist, who donated large amounts of money to various congregations in religious activities, especially during the festival season. Some of his employees spoke about Porwal’s helpful personality in a media interview. He said Porwal was a regular contributor to Ganpati and Navratri festivals. In 2016, he founded a charitable trust named Paras Porwal Charitable Trust, which often helps and feeds poor and needy people on the streets of Mumbai.
A man distributing food packages to poor people under Paras Porwal Charitable Trust
- Baba Jadhav, a popular politician from the Thackeray-led Sena Party, describes Paras S Porwal’s life journey as “the story of a rich man rising from rich to riches”. While interacting with the media, Jadhav said that Porwal started his career as a small real estate agent and gradually with his dedication and hard work he built the business empire of Om Shanti Group. Later, Paras S Porwal started several subsidiaries of Om Shanti Group.
- Reportedly, Paras S Porwal was a prosperous builder whose notable works included several redevelopment works on municipal plots such as Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects in Mumbai. He owned twenty-three real estate companies and his son Ronnie was working on ten of these companies.
- After his death on October 20, 2022, the police narrated the suicide note of Paras S Porwal to his family. In the note, Paras has mentioned the names of his family members and some advice to them. He advised his wife and son not to undertake construction projects involving the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA); Instead, he asked them to take up only personal development projects. In his suicide note, he wrote that no one should be held responsible for his death. According to the police, an SRA project was under construction in Jijamata Nagar, Worli at the time of his death.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn