Hema Malini a billionaire, discloses her affidavit to poll panel

Fighting for the Mathura Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket, the sitting MP and film actor Hema Malini is a billonaire with the value of her assets having increased by a whopping Rs 34.46 crore in the last five years, discloses an affidavit filed by her with the poll panel.

The affidavit shows Hema Malini presently owns total wealth including bungalows, jewelleries, cash, jewelleries, shares and term deposits worth over Rs 101 crore, while five years ago before the 2014 general elections, her total assets had been valued at nearly Rs 66 crore.

The value of her actor-husband Dharmendra Singh Deol’s assets grew to Rs 12.30 crore during the corresponding period, according to Hema Malini’s affidavit, detailing her assets and liabilities along with those of her spouse.

The affidavit was submitted by her to the Election Commission of India while filing her nomination as Lok Sabha candidate from the Mathura parliamentary constituency. The affidavit, accompanied by her income tax returns for the last five years, reveals that the couple earned Rs 10 crore each during the last five years. In her IT returns, Hema Malini has shown an income of Rs 15.93 lakh in 2013-14 against that of over Rs 1.19 crore in 2017-18.

The affidavit shows her income to be Rs 3.12 crore in 2014-15, Rs 1.19 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 4.30 crore in 2016-17. Thus, as per the affidavit, the yesteryears’ ‘Dream Girl’ earned over Rs 9.87 crore, and her ‘he-man’ husband nearly Rs 9.73 crore in last five years. The affidavit disclosed that Hema Malini has two cars, including a Mercedes bought for Rs 33.62 lakh in 2011. The other car is a Toyota that, she said, she bought for Rs 4.75 lakh in 2005.

The details of Dharmendra’s assets in the affidavit indicate his passion for ‘vintage’ cars. That may be the reason why he has not disposed his Range Rover car bought just for Rs 7,000 in 1965. His other old vehicles include a Maruti 800 car and a motorcycle. Counted among the country’s billionaires along with his wife, Dharmendra total asset has been valued at over Rs 123.85 crore (Rs 1.23 bn).

Among their liabilities detailed in the affidavit, Hema Malini has a debt of over Rs 6.75 crore while her husband has a debt of over Rs 7.37 crore.

A significant part of their debt included a loan taken to build their bungalow in Juhu Vile Parle in Mumbai. They have also been benefitted from their investment in this property. Bought and built at a sum of Rs 58 crore, the value of the Juhu land and the bungalow is now worth over Rs 100 crore.

As per the details of her educational qualifications in the affidavit, Hema Malini, had to leave her formal education at an age of nine for the sake of her dance training, but she did her matriculation later besides completing her higher studies. She got a PhD degree in 2012 from Padampati Singhania University at Udaipur. Prior to this, she was awarded Padma Shri by the Union government for her contribution to the field of arts and theatre.

Before being elected as Mathura MP in 2014, Hema Malini was a Rajya Sabha MP twice, first from 2003 to 2009 and then from 2011 to 2012. She had been a member of various parliamentary standing committees, including those for the External Affairs Ministry, Transport, Tourism, Culture, Women Empowerment, Information and Broadcasting.