{"id":12949,"date":"2018-02-03T05:33:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T05:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shows4.com\/mobile\/?p=12949"},"modified":"2018-02-03T05:33:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T05:33:16","slug":"is-shah-rukh-khan-paying-the-price-for-taking-on-a-politician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shows4.com\/?p=12949","title":{"rendered":"Is Shah Rukh Khan Paying the Price for Taking on a Politician?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The superstar was served a show-cause notice by the IT department for allegedly committing a criminal offence by acquiring 19,000 square metres of agricultural land for his Alibaug bungalow.<\/p>\n

Is it payback time for Shah Rukh Khan? Has the superstar become a victim of a witch-hunt launched by vindictive government officials? That\u2019s what Bollywood sources seem to believe after the actor was served a show-cause notice by the IT Department for allegedly committing a criminal offence by acquiring 19,000 square metres of agricultural land for his Alibaug bungalow D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu Farms.<\/p>\n

Remember the fracas the Bollywood Badshah got into on his 52nd birthday last November with Peasants and Workers Party of India general secretary Jayant Patil? It happened at the Gateway of India. SRK\u2019s yacht, that was waiting to take him to Alibaug for the weekend bash, apparently blocked Patil from sailing to Alibaug himself. Patil might have been unknown to the Bollywood superstar. But the PWP general secretary is a big fish in Alibaug. He is the chairman of the Raigad District Central Cooperative Bank whose HQ is based in Alibaug. And not the kind of man to be kept waiting.<\/p>\n

But Patil waited in the throng of screaming and jostling SRK fans at the Gateway jetty, his impatience and irritation mounting every minute, while his yacht kept honking and hoping SRK\u2019s dreamboat would make way for the Alibaug resident. Finally, Patil stormed down the jetty, hopped onboard SRK\u2019s yacht from which he nimbly boarded his own boat that was waiting alongside, and sailed away. But just before pulling out, Patil shouted out to SRK, \u201cYou think you have bought over Alibaug?\u201d Subsequently, Patil who was still chaffing told the media that he would soon bring up all the controversies surrounding SRK\u2019s Alibaug bungalow in the Maharashtra Assembly.<\/p>\n

The major allegation against the Bollywood superstar is that he applied for permission to purchase land for agriculture but constructed a super luxury bungalow there instead. Alibaug activist Surendra Dhavale complained that Shah Rukh, his wife Gauri, a company (Deja Vu Farms Pvt. Ltd), that company\u2019s CEO, and other unknown individuals and public servants used forged papers while acquiring the plot. \u201cWe would like to highlight to the Chief Minister and cabinet ministers that a large number of violations using forged documents are being done by celebrities and rich persons at Alibaug, giving a bad name to the region,\u201d Patil told the media. He also called for an investigation of \u201call the concerned officials involved in the clearance of the SRK file\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, rising to the actor\u2019s defence was Mahendra Dalvi, a member of the Alibaug panchayat and a Shiv Sena worker married to the sarpanch who cleared the sale of the plot to SRK. Dalvi said, \u201cShah Rukh Khan is a nice man and has not done anything illegal.\u201d He added that he wasn\u2019t aware if the chartered accountant Moreshwar Ajgaonkar, chosen to acquire the plot, was a farmer or not, but said, \u201cMoreshwar had credential documents and 7\u00d712 (an authentic document that proves an individual is a farmer) in hand. These documents were verified and cleared by local district officers. Therefore, the agriculture plots were given to Moreshwar who was also a close confidant of Shah Rukh Khan.\u201d Raigad Collector Dr. Vijay Suryavanshi, too, said Moreshwar\u2019s 7\u00d712 had been found to be valid.<\/p>\n

Yet, a case has been registered under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act and the IT Department has provisionally attached the actor\u2019s Alibaug property. SRK, who was slapped with a show cause notice for criminal offence, has been given 90 days to reply. Sources say the accusation, if proved, can result in seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine valued at 25 per cent of the property\u2019s value.<\/p>\n