The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has lodged a police complaint against Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, alleging that he converted his residential building in Juhu into a hotel without permission, reported PTI on Thursday. The civic body’s K-West ward filed the complaint at the Juhu police station on Monday.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner of BMC’s K-West ward Vishwas Mote confirmed that the complaint was filed against Sood for allegedly violating the provisions under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act. In a two-page complaint, the civic body claimed that the actor did not take any permission from the authorities before making structural changes in Shakti Sagar, a residential building located at Mumbai’s Juhu area. The actor has not commented on the allegation yet.
“It was found that accused Mr Sonu Sood and Mrs Sonali Sonu Sood have instituted/commenced/undertaken/carried out development or changed the user of land as detailed below: Unauthorised addition/alteration beyond approved plans and unauthorised change of user from residential to residential hotel building without taking technical sanction from competent authority,” the BMC’s complaint read.
The civic body had issued a notice to the actor in October, according to the complaint. It added that the land was inspected on Monday, and officials found unauthorised developments being done even after the notice was sent to him. The civic body had in October given the actor a month’s time to restore the changes in the property.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Kadam reacted to the complaint and claimed that the BMC and the Maharashtra government were targeting Sood. “Another vendetta politics by Shiv Sena?” he tweeted. “This complaint against social worker and actor Sonu Sood seems politically motivated. We saw how this Maharashtra Government attacked and targeted Kangana Ranaut. Shiv Sena was always against Sonu Sood’s humanitarian work.”
During the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Sood had garnered adulation for helping a number of migrant workers attempting to reach their hometowns. He was credited for making transport arrangements for over hundreds of migrant workers stranded in Mumbai because of the nationwide lockdown.
On June 7, the actor met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai, on the same day Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut accused him of “enacting a script by the Bharatiya Janata Party” to show the state government in a bad light.
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