MUMBAI, 9 SEPTEMBER, 2020 (GPN):  The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today on Wednesday issued a fresh notice to actress Kangana Ranaut, seeking her reply about the alleged illegal alteration and construction in the premises of her Manikarnika Films Office in Khar.

Reacting to the stop-work notice by the BMC issued to Kangana, the actress’ lawyer Rizwan Siddique in a statement said, “No work being carried out by Kangana Ranaut in her premises as falsely understood by you, so the notice issued by you as “Stop Work Notice” is absolutely bad-in-law and appears to have been issued only to intimidate her by misusing your dominant position.”

The BMC immediately issued a caveat, stating that no legal action can be taken by Kangana until further notice. On Monday, Kangana had alleged on social media that the BMC had forcefully taken over her office to demolish it. A senior civic official from the H-West ward said, “We have the plan of the existing structure of 1979 and have found major violations on the premises. We don’t know when the additions and alterations were made, for which there are no permissions.”

In the middle of a huge row between Kangana Ranaut and the Shiv Sena over her “Mumbai feels like PoK” comments, the BMC sent teams to the actor’s office today to demolish “illegal alterations”. The action, timed with her Mumbai return, appears to have backfired spectacularly.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar told GPN that she had failed to produce documents “within 24 hours.”

But the BMC move raised questions like whether the actor had been given enough time, since she had been out of Mumbai for months, and why no action was taken earlier. The BMC was also called out over the timing of its action, since Kangana Ranaut had announced her date of return last week.

The Bombay High Court put a stop to the demolition in a big win for Kangana Ranaut, who promptly posted a video warning the Chief Minister.

“Uddhav Thackeray, tujhe kya lagta hai? (what do you think?) That you colluded along with the film mafia, demolished my home and took revenge on me? My home was demolished today, your arrogance will crumble tomorrow,” Kangana Ranaut said.

The actor, known for controversies and a running feud with Bollywood insiders, even received support from critics.

The BMC had listed 14 “violations” at her office, which included a toilet apparently built in space marked for a kitchen and an office set up in an area meant for a toilet.

The 33-year-old actor, sharing images on her Twitter handle, tweeted photos of the demolition with captions like Pakistan and Babur and His Army.As BMC officials reached her Mumbai office to demolish illegal portions of it, actor Kangana Ranaut called them ‘Babur and his army’. Within the next few minutes, she put out more photos from inside her office, where the BMC was pulling down some portions of the structure, she took to Twitter again, and wrote, “I am never wrong and my enemies prove again and again this is why my Mumbai is POK now #deathofdemocracy.”

 

संजय जी मुझे अभिव्यक्ति की पूरी आज़ादी है
मुझे अपने देश में कहीं भी जाने की आज़ादी है ।
मैं आज़ाद हूँ । pic.twitter.com/773n8XDESI

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 6, 2020

#DeathOfDemocracy pic.twitter.com/Ts5GP9deOh

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 9, 2020

The actor’s fight with the Shiv Sena started when she criticized the handling of the Sushant Singh Rajput case by the Mumbai police and state government and said she feared living in Mumbai. Not just the Sena, even state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of the NCP had said the actor should “not return to Mumbai if she feels unsafe”.

The last few days have seen attacks and counter-attacks, all taking place on a Twitter battleground. Kangana Ranaut compared Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, triggering a backlash from the Shiv Sena. She called Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s response to her comparison a threat and declared that she would soon arrive in Mumbai, throwing an open dare to try and stop her.

Pratap Sarnaik, in response, threatened to ‘break her mouth’ and that caught the attention of the National Commission for Women, with Rekha Sharma also falling for a fake forward that was attributed to the Sena MLA. As Kangana Ranaut continued to make more statements, she also alleged that 99 percent of Bollywood was doing drugs.

The Maharashtra Assembly, that convened for just a two-day session, spent a significant amount of time on the controversy. Home Minister Anil Deshmukh also informed that a couple of MLAs had moved a privilege motion against Kangana Ranaut for calling Mumbai PoK. Another MLA wants the NCB to investigate drug consumption allegations against her basis a three year old video of Adhyayan Suman, who at the time was in a relationship with the actor and had said on camera that she had tried to force him to have cocaine.

Kangana has moved the Bombay High court and a hearing is expected to take place on it shortly.

In another tweet, Kangana shared pictures of his office space which she converted into a prayer room and wrote, “The first film which was announced by Manikarnika films was Ayodhya. This is not just a building for me but I consider this as Ram temple. But today Babur has come there and history will repeat itself. Ram temple will be broken again but remember this temple will be built again, Jai Shri Ram.” ENDS