'Personal matters', says Sunny Deol on bungalow auction controversy

Bollywood actor and BJP MP from Gurdaspur Sunny Deol has refused to respond to media queries regarding the controversy surrounding the Bank of Baroda’s withdrawal of the notice to auction his ‘Sunny Villa’ in Mumbai.

“I do not want to comment. These are personal matters. Main kuch bhi bolunga, log galat matlab nikalenge (Whatever I will say, people will interpret it wrong),” Sunny Deol told the news agency ANI.

The state-owned bank had on Sunday put up Deol’s Juhu bungalow for auction as the actor failed to repay a loan of Rs 55.99 crore due from December 2022. However, on Monday, the bank withdrew the notice citing “technical reasons”.

Sunny Deol, who is riding high on the success of his latest release ‘Gaddar 2’ that has already grossed over Rs 400 crore in a week, was the borrower of the loan, while brother Vijay Singh Deol (Bobby Deol) and his father Dharmendra Deol were guarantors for the loan, the notice said. Meanwhile, Sunny Sounds Pvt Ltd was the corporate guarantor for the mortgage.

In a statement, the bank gave two reasons for the withdrawal of the notice - “First, the total dues did not specify the exact quantum of dues to be recovered. Secondly, the sale notice was based on a symbolic possession of the property as per Rule 8(6) of The Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules 2002.”

“An application has been made for physical possession by the Bank with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on 01st August 2023, which is pending for permission. Since the unit is running as conveyed to us by the borrower, sale action will be initiated as per the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, once the physical possession is taken,” the BoB statement added.

The bank also said that Deol approached it for settling dues as per the sale notice published on August 20. The Sunny Villa has been with the Deol family for five decades. It houses the Sunny Super Sound recording studio, Sunny Deol’s office, a preview theatre, and two post-production suites.