Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Monday said the process of putting out a public notice to auction a villa owned by actor and sitting BJP Member of Parliament Sunny Deol to recover Rs 56 crore dues is withdrawn saying the owner has approached the lender to settle the dues. In a public notice on Sunday, the state-run bank had said it would e-auction 'Sunny Villa' at Juhu in Mumbai on September 25. But in a similar notice on Monday, Bank of Baroda said the e-auction notice published on August 20 "stands withdrawn due to technical reason".
In a statement issued by Bank of Baroda on Monday said first, the total dues did not specify the exact quantum of dues to be recovered. Second, 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 August 1, 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. In the meantime, the borrower has approached the Bank for settling the dues as per the sale notice published on August 20, 2023, where the borrower/guarantors were notified that they are entitled to redeem the securities by paying the outstanding dues/costs/charges and expenses at any time before the sale is conducted.
Accordingly, the sale notice is withdrawn as per the normal industry practice followed in other cases as well," the a spokesperson of the bank said.
According to Sunday's notice, BoB, which has attached the property, had fixed the reserve price for the auction at Rs 51.43 crore and an earnest money deposit of Rs 5.14 crore.
Apart from Sunny Villa, the 599.44 square metre property also houses Sunny Sounds, which is owned by the Deols, and is the corporate guarantor to the loan, while Sunny's actor-politician father Dharmendra is the personal guarantor of the debt, according to the auction notice. The notice had also said the Deols had the option of clearing the dues of the bank to prevent the auction, under the provisions of the Sarfaesi Act 2002.
Deoll, a MP from Gurdaspur, whose latest movie Gadar 2 is a box office success having already grossed over Rs 300 crore since the release last week, has been in default on a Rs 55.99 crore loan from the bank, interest and penalty, since December 2022.