No bungalows on Korlai plot, says village head

Korlai, a quaint village in Raigad district, has become the centre of the latest political slugfest between two former partners - Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Korlai, a quaint village in Raigad district, has become the centre of the latest political slugfest between two former partners - Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The plot in question at Korlai village in Raigad district. Pratik Chorge/HT Photo

Kirit Somaiya, a former BJP MP from Mumbai, alleged that Rashmi Thackeray, wife of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, and Manisha, wife of Sena legislator Ravindra Waikar, purchased 19 bungalows along with a 3.72 hectares land in the village. The Sena dismissed the claim, saying there were no bungalows.

A visit to the village, around 120 km south of Mumbai, showed that the plot in contention was a stretch of land with drying coconut trees, areca palm (betel) trees, and some unused structures like a security cabin at the entrance. However, there were no bungalows.

A survey undertaken by the Korlai gram panchayat on February 5, 2021, listed 12 “items” on the plot, comprising a cabin for security guards, a defunct pump room, two wells, three water tanks, storage tanks, septic tanks, and a tennis court area. All these things cumulatively admeasure 19,487.5 sq feet.

The village with a population of around 3,200 has been in the news. But villagers chose to keep quiet about the property that has brought undue attention. Most of the people HT spoke to refused to have any knowledge of the exact location of the plot.

Prashant Misal, sarpanch (village head) of Korlai, said there were no bungalows on the plot. He said Thackeray and Waikar had purchased the property for ₹4.5 crore in 2014 from Anvay Naik - an interior designer who died by suicide in 2018.

Misal said Naik intended to construct a resort on the land, but could not do so, as the plot fell under the Coastal Regulation Zone. “He owned the plot between 2008-09 and 2014. He constructed 18 houses and other amenities while trying to get permission for a resort. However, it did not happen. Subsequently, he demolished the structures and planted the trees that we see today. He continued to pay the house tax regularly till he owned it,” said Misal, who heads the Sena-controlled gram panchayat.

After the sale of the land to Thackeray and Waikar in April 2014, the house taxes were not paid to the gram panchayat, leading to a notice from the village body seeking the payment of dues in 2019. “The outstanding dues was ₹1,66,179 from 2014 to 2019. For 2020 and 2021, it was another ₹72,318. All the dues were paid through an RTGS transaction,” Misal said.

However, asked whether why the house tax was charged by the gram panchayat, Misal said, “They (owners) should have informed the local body that there were no houses on the plot. How would we know what was on the property when it was locked? Besides, house taxes are the major source of revenue for the village.”

Subsequently, the owners wrote to the gram panchayat seeking removal of the houses from the village records, which was cleared.

This is not the first time the land deal has been used politically. In 2016, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam raised questions on it as well. Later after 2019, Somaiya raked it up to corner the Sena and the Thackeray family following the split between the two allies. He had also questioned why the bungalows were not mentioned in the election affidavit of the chief minister in 2020.