(This story originally appeared in on Oct 04, 2019)

MUMBAI: The father-son duo of Rakesh and Sarang (Sunny) Wadhawan were among the most powerful and politically connected builders during the Congress-NCP rule.Their fortunes rose around the time the property market was beginning to heat up in 2003.Their proximity to several chief ministers and particularly two former Congress MLAs from the western suburbs was a subject of discussion in political circles.“They were among those builders who moved around with gun-toting security guards and were much feared by their competitors in the real estate industry. It was always rumoured that housing policies generally favoured HDIL, especially when it came to cornering large slum redevelopment projects in Mumbai ,” said a developer.Its biggest bonanza came in 2007 when it bagged the rights to rehouse slumdwellers living on the periphery of the city airport. The builder is believed to have earned Rs 2,000 crore in the form of transfer of development rights (TDR) from this project alone to construct free houses for the slum dwellers. Till date, the encroachers continue to occupy the airport land.Old-timers in the industry say the Wadhawan family, initially from Delhi, moved to Mumbai in the 1950s.They found a foothold in the world of construction and land dealings in Vasai-Virar some time in the 1980s when gangster Bhai Thakur ruled the roost in this belt.By 2010, Forbes featured Rakesh Wadhawan and family on its list of Indian billionaires with a net worth of $1 billion. A year earlier, the Wadhawan family divided its business. Rakesh and his son Sunny retained HDIL while Rakesh’s nephews, Kapil and Dheeraj, launched a new construction firm and took control of Dewan Housing Finance.Sunny and wife Anu were the toast of B-Town, known for their lavish parties, and were frequently featured as a glam couple in celebrity magazines. Father Rakesh once told this correspondent that his weakness was owning race horses; he was regularly seen at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on big days.Over a decade ago, sitting in the lobby of a five-star hotel, he took out his diamondencrusted watch to show this correspondent. On Thursday night, the Wadhawans were in the police lockup in the commissionerate compound near Crawford Market.