DB Realty managing director Shahid Usman Balwa, a co-accused in the 2G scam owns a private airport in north Gujarat’s Palanpur according to Subramaniam Swamy who stated this before the court.

Balwa is originally from Gujarat from north Gujarat’s Gujarati speaking Cheliya Muslim community. His fore fathers were from Pirojpura village, Vadgam Taluka, Dist: Banas Kantha (Gujarat) . His father, Usman, started Balwa’s restaurant at Marines Lines and Balwa’s Hotel at Mumbai Central.

He is managing director of the Dynamix Balwas Group and India’s youngest billionaire. Hotel Royal Balwas, which has metamorphosed into the international brand, Le Meridien is run by the Dynamix Balwas Group which is planning another high-profile five-star hotel at Mundra SEZ.

Hailing from the Chilya Sunni Muslim community, Balwa, who speaks immaculate Gujarati (his forefathers were from that state), dropped out of college and entered the family’s hotel business. His father, Usman, started Balwa’s restaurant at Marines Lines and Balwa’s Hotel at Mumbai Central.

In the late 1990s when the Balwas expanded, they sold their Mumbai Central house and bought a bungalow plot in Bandra from a Parsi family for Rs 2 crore. The businessman’s profile shot to dizzying heights after he tied up with developer Vinod Goenka to form DB Realty in 2006. In a few years, the construction company claimed to have 21 million square feet of saleable area in ongoing projects and another 40 million square feet in upcoming projects. In corridors of power, D B Realty is widely perceived to be backed by a top state politician. Bureaucrats talk in hush tones about how files of the construction company are speedily approved. Last year, D B Realty won the right to redevelop the 100-acre Bandra (East) government colony along with Ackruti City and the Pune-based Kakade Infrastructure.