Mumbai: Forty workers, five BMC employees, three senior officers and several police personnel turned up with a bulldozer Wednesday morning at Nargis Dutt Road to tear down parts of a quaint Pali Hill bungalow in Mumbai — the office of Manikarnika Films Private Limited, actor Kangana Ranaut’s production house.
According to a notice by the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to Ranaut, there are 14 items of unauthorised construction at the office that was set up in January in Mumbai’s posh Bandra suburb.
But in the afternoon the demolition work was stopped after the actor’s lawyer, Rizwan Siddiqui, filed an urgent petition in the Bombay High Court against it. By then, the BMC had already broken down portions of the alleged illegal construction.
The BMC’s action comes at a time the actor is locked in a raging row with the ruling party over her comments on the Mumbai Police and the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Ranaut had said that Mumbai felt like Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and criticised the Mumbai Police. The escalating issue resulted in the Centre granting her Y plus security cover, a privilege extended to select few, such as Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde. She is also the first actor ever to receive a version of India’s elite security cover.
The demolition, which involved having at least 50 people present at one spot, also comes at a time Mumbai is struggling to contain the spread of Covid-19. Mumbai, India’s hot spot, currently has 24,556 active cases of the 1,58,756 recorded so far. On Tuesday alone, 1,346 people tested positive in the financial capital.
Also read: As Kangana gets Y+ security cover, here’s the X,Y,Z of protection details provided by govt
‘Unauthorised toilets, balcony enclosed without permission’
According to the BMC’s notice to Ranaut, the 14 items of unauthorised construction include an unauthorised pantry, kitchen, unauthorised toilets, conversion of a toilet into an office cabin, changing the orientation of a staircase without permission, enclosing a balcony as well as changing the position of the main entrance gate.
“We had information regarding possible illegal construction at the bungalow, after which our staff visited the site on Monday for an inspection. We issued the notice after following the due procedure,” a senior BMC official told ThePrint.
The notice reads: “… The ongoing renovation and finishing work to the unauthorised portion at above promises is beyond the BCC plan (Building Completion Certificate) dated 07.03.1979.” Through the notice, the civic body gave Ranaut 24 hours to produce documentary evidence of permission taken from the civic authority for the alterations.
Ranaut, in 2018, had received a similar BMC notice for illegal construction at her residence in Khar, the official said. “She challenged it in court, which stayed the notice. We have filed a reply asking for the stay on the demolition order to be vacated. We are awaiting the court’s further instructions,” he said.
BMC says Ranaut’s reply not satisfactory, she responds ‘Pakistan’
On Tuesday, the BMC had pasted the notice at the front of Bungalow No. 5 at Chetak Row Houses — the address of the production house. The notice, a copy of which has been accessed by ThePrint, was issued to Ranaut under Section 354 (A) of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act.
The BMC official, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint, “We had given Kangana Ranaut 24 hours to respond. Her team has given us a written reply, but it is not satisfactory. We have sent her another letter explaining the reasons for why her response is not up to the mark, and legally started the demolition.”
Ranaut, who returned to the city Wednesday afternoon, posted several videos of the demolition on Twitter. Earlier in the day, she tweeted pictures of the BMC crew and the demolition at her office, calling the Shiv Sena and the civic body ‘Babur and his army’.
#DeathOfDemocracy pic.twitter.com/9jPsCDYYrH
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 9, 2020
Babur and his army ?#deathofdemocracy pic.twitter.com/L5wiUoNqhl
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 9, 2020
In a tweet with some more photos, she captioned it “Pakistan”.
“I am never wrong and my enemies prove again and again that Mumbai is POK now,” Ranaut tweeted, reiterating her earlier comment that triggered the row.
Pakistan…. #deathofdemocracy pic.twitter.com/4m2TyTcg95
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 9, 2020
“There is no illegal construction in my house, also government has banned any demolitions in Covid till September 30, Bullywood watch now this is what Fascism looks like,” she said in another tweet.
Earlier in the day, Ranaut also tweeted how her office premises is not just a building for her, but a Ram temple.
“The first film announced from Manikarnika Films was Ayodhya. For me, this is not just a building, but Ram Mandir. Today, Babur has come there. Today, history will repeat itself again. Ram Mandir will break again, but, remember, Babur, the temple will be built again,” she said, closing her tweet with a chant of Jai Shree Ram.
This is not the first time the BMC has, on its own accord, initiated action against a detractor of the Shiv Sena and the BMC. In 2017, the BMC sent a notice to Lily Mendonsa for dengue breeding at her house after her daughter, popular radio jockey Malishka, posted a video criticising the civic body’s monsoon preparedness. The video had gone viral.
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Political slugfest
The war of words, ongoing since last week, saw Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik move a breach of privilege motion against Ranaut in the Maharashtra legislative assembly Tuesday.
The Shiv Sena had also alleged that the actor’s Twitter account was being handled by the BJP’s IT Cell, with Sarnaik later claiming that a conspiracy was being hatched against the party.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sarnaik had said the BJP is using Kangana as a weapon to politically attack the Shiv Sena. “We have information that the Twitter handle of Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) is actually operated by the BJP’s IT cell,” he said.
Several Shiv Sena leaders have issued threats to Kangana saying they will not let her return to the city.
Indirectly responding to Ranaut’s 3 September tweet comparing Mumbai to POK, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had said those who think Maharashtra or Mumbai isn’t safe have no right to live in the state, and praised the police for their efforts to maintain law and order.
Also read: BJP’s support to Kangana Ranaut a conspiracy against Mumbai, Shiv Sena says in Saamana