I-T attaches SRK's Alibaug farmhouse over several alleged violations
I-T has provisionally attached Shah Rukh Khan's Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd at Alibaug under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act (PBPT). The property's circle rate is estimated at Rs. 146.7mn, but an official said the market rate would go up to five times. According to reports, Khan had applied for buying agricultural land for farming, but constructed a farmhouse for personal use.
The land in question was incorporated in 2004
According to official filings, Deja Vu was incorporated by shareholders Srinivas Parthasarathy and Somasekhar Sundaresan in 2004. The same year, share transfer certificates were signed in the name of Khan and wife Gauri. The first directors were replaced by Ramesh Chhiba, Savita Chhiba and Moreshwar Rajaram Ajgaonkar on the same day. Ajgaonkar declared himself an agriculturist, and was accordingly allowed purchase of agricultural land.
A series of alleged violations in the transactions
The condition of purchase was that the land would be put to agricultural use in three years, but Deja Vu hasn't shown any agricultural income till date. Ajgaonkar was replaced by Namita Chibba; the Chibbas are Khan's in-laws. Moreover, Khan provided unsecured loans worth over Rs. 8.45cr to Deja Vu, which was effectively owned by himself. The loans were used to purchase land.
'Deja Vu' was created to bypass laws, official report says
The Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act prohibits transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturalists without requisite permission. Since Khan couldn't purchase the land in his individual capacity, they devised a mechanism in the form of Deja vu, an official report notes.
Farmhouse also violated coastal regulatory zone norms
The issue came to light when the district collector mentioned a property owned by Khan was among 87 farmhouses allegedly violating Coastal Regulatory Zone norms. Confirming the move, an I-T officer said under PBPT, if an investigator believes a person is benamidar, they can issue attachment notice. Attachment can be done for not more than 90 days from issuance of the notice.
