I-T officials provisionally attach Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow in Alibaug under benami property law

The Income Tax Department provisionally attached Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s Alibaug farmhouse under the new benami transactions act in December 2017, The Times of India reported on Wednesday. The department also filed a report before an adjudicating authority, to which the Bollywood actor has to reply within 90 days.

The tax authority issued the attachment notice to Deja Vu Farms under the Prohibition of Benami Transactions Act. Once the adjudicating authority confirms the farmhouse’s attachment, income tax authorities can initiate criminal action against the actor.

Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd was incorporated on December 29, 2004. The land extracts show that the Alibaug property has been built on agricultural land in Thal village. Moreshwar Ajgaonkar, a director of Deja Vu Farms, is mentioned as the property owner, and has called himself an agriculturalist.

The farmhouse, which covers over 19,000 square metres has a swimming pool and a helipad. Khan gave an unsecured loan of Rs 8.5 crore to Deja Vu Farms, which it used for purchasing land for farming.

The land was meant to be used for farming within three years, but Khan converted it into a farmhouse, the department claimed. It also alleged that Deja Vu Farms had not yet shown any income from agriculture, The Indian Express reported.

The adjudicating authority will provide Khan a chance to argue against the provisional attachment of his property. If the authority decides to confirm the attachment, Khan can appeal against the order before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.

The matter first came to light in 2017 when Raigad District Collector Vijay Suryavanshi claimed that the actor’s property was among 87 farmhouses on which the collector’s office had sought legal opinion. The office wished to initiate action for violation of Coastal Regulatory Zone norms.