Bank of Baroda on Monday withdrew a 30-day notice put up at actor and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Sunny Deol’s bungalow in Mumbai’s Juhu for auction over a ₹55.99 crore loan default, citing “technical reasons”.
The bank, which said Deol mortgaged the property housing his office and a studio, published another public notice saying it was withdrawing the previous one issued under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, to recover ₹55.99 crore plus interest from Deol.
A Bank of Baroda official said the bank issued the fresh notice while refusing to comment further.
A spokesperson for Deol, who represents Punjab’s Gurdaspur in Parliament and has been in the news for the success of his film Gadar 2, said they were in the process of resolving this issue. “...it will be done soon. We request no further speculation on the same.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wondered who triggered the technical reasons for the notice withdrawal. “Yesterday [Sunday] afternoon the nation got to know that Bank of Baroda had put up the Juhu residence of BJP MP Sunny Deol for e-auction since he has not paid up ₹56 crore owed to the Bank. This [Monday] morning, in less than 24 hours, the nation has got to know that the Bank of Baroda has withdrawn the auction notice due to ‘technical reasons’.”
The first notice dated August 19 mentioned it is a statutory 30-day one under the SARFAESI. It added the borrowers and guarantors can redeem the securities by paying the outstanding dues before the sale is conducted.
{{/usCountry}}The first notice dated August 19 mentioned it is a statutory 30-day one under the SARFAESI. It added the borrowers and guarantors can redeem the securities by paying the outstanding dues before the sale is conducted.
{{/usCountry}}The notice scheduled an e-auction of the 599.44 square metre property on September 25 and invited bids with a reserve price fixed at ₹51.43 crore.
Interested buyers were to deposit earnest money of ₹5.14 crore. Bids could have been increased by ₹10 lakh during the auction, the notice said. It added that prospective buyers could inspect the property on September 14 morning.