In a major turn of events, the notice to auction the bungalow house of the ‘Gadar Part 2’ actor, Sunny Deol, was immediately called off by the victim bank within 24 hours of the issuing of the notice. The bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) has cited several ‘technical faults’ as the reason behind calling off the bid to auction the beachfront bungalow but has not yet specified, what the technical faults are. This has led to accusations from various political parties that the government of India has safely practised political favouritism with the actor just because he is a favourite guy of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the district of Gurdaspur in Punjab. The notice to bid the house for auction and then immediately withdraw it has raised a few eyebrows and become the most discussed thing in the tinsel town of Bollywood now.

‘Main Nikla 56 Crore Rupees Loan Leke’

It would not be an insult to the actor if someone would change certain words from the famous ‘Main Nikla Gaddi Leke’ song from both instalments of ‘Gadar’ to describe the situation that Sunny Deol has currently created for himself. it was earlier reported in a statement that was issued by the bank that Ajay Singh Deol, which is the legal name of Sunny Deol, had originally taken a large loan counting up to almost 56 crore rupees from the bank to buy a property in the upscale Juhu beach area of Mumbai. As guarantors to the loan, Sunny Deol included himself as well as the company that is jointly being run by Sunny Deol, his brother Bobby Deol and their father Dharmendra Deol, that is ‘Sunny Sounds Private Limited (Pvt. Ltd)’. Due to the inability to repay the loan that was taken from the bank even beyond the time that was stipulated for payment, the authorities from the bank decided to issue a notice of auctioning the property legally to recover the money.

However, on Sunday, the 20^th of August this year, within 24 hours of issuing the notice to auction the house, the authorities from the Bank of Baroda (BoB) issued yet another notice through the renowned daily ‘The Times of India, Mumbai Edition’ that they would not be auctioning the house due to certain technical faults. The corrigendum that was published by the authorities of the bank read, “Corrigendum to E-Auction Sale Notice dated 19.08.2023 published in The Times of India Mumbai Edition (Pg.3) dated 20.08.2023 with regards to Sale Notice in respect of Mr Ajay Sing Deol Alias Mr Sunny Deol Stands Withdrawn due to Technical Reasons for the below-mentioned Property: All That piece and parcel of land bearing Survey No. 41 Hissa No 5 (Pt) CTS No. 173 of Village Juhu Taluka Andheri Mumbai Suburban Dist, Admeasuring 599.44 Sq Mtrs underneath a structure known as Sunny Villa situated at Gandhigram Road Juhu Mumbai 400049. Bearing New Municipal assessment No. 00121047 situated in registration District and Sub-district of Mumbai Suburban.” The property that is currently going through this dispute is referred to as ‘Sunny Villa’ and is situated on Gandhigram Road in Juhu, sprawling over an area of almost 599 square meters.

 The lawyers of the actor and the representatives of the actor in the court of law have also started this unprecedented and surprising movement on the side of the bank suddenly. They even alleged that the amount of loan that was mentioned by the bank was overstated.

The Political Blame Game Played

As the news of the cancellation of the bid to auction spread, it garnered widespread attention as the actor has just shaken the entire Hindi film industry with the huge success of his recently released film, ‘Gadar Part 2’. The news of the cancellation of the auction has invited some unnecessary attention from various political parties, especially, the Congress Party. The Congress Party has alleged that the bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) that is being operated under the central government, has intentionally dropped the charges of defaulting on payment of a loan against him as he is affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a Member of the Parliament (MP) from the Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Also, his stepmother, actress Hema Malini, is another politician from the seat of Mathura region in Uttar Pradesh. The party was quick enough to draw similar parallels between Sunny Deol and other defaulters of loans, such as Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, who were also allowed to escape due to their long political connections with the ruling party and the Prime Minister personally. The Congress Party has also alleged the lack of proper measures of financial security in the bank for acceptors of loans. The lack of accountability and security checks in the banking sector has been underscored by the party. The party argued that had the defaulter been an ordinary person, then his or her property would have been confiscated without mercy.

The sudden reversal of the order has not just pointed out the lack of credibility of the actor and his family but also the hollowness in the financial credibility that every bank should be exercising to create hope of financial security in the minds of ordinary people. This has led to many parties demanding a proper investigation to find out the exact reason behind the withdrawal of the order.

The cancellation of the auction regarding the Juhu beachfront bungalow of Sunny Deol has sparked a huge political debate with several opposition political parties alleging a chance of political bias and favoritism. On top of this, the failure of the bank in stating the reasons behind the inability to auction the bungalow has raised suspicions over the real intention of the bank regarding the recovery of the amount from the actor. We hope that the matter gets solved quickly and that truth prevails. At the same time, it is the responsibility of the bank to treat every borrower equally without paying attention to the political affiliation or the public reputation of the person.