Did Shah Rukh Khan build farmhouse on land meant for farming?

The Income-Tax (I-T) department has provisionally attached actor Shah Rukh Khan's Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd (Alibag farmhouse), as reported by business portal Business Standard. The I-T department issued the notice under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act (PBPT) in December last year.

Business Standard had access to a copy of the attachment notice. As per the notice, the prime charge against Khan is that he had made an application to purchase agricultural land for farming, but instead constructed a farmhouse at Alibag for personal use.

As per the I-T report, the department viewed Khan’s transaction as falling under the benami transaction as per the Section 2 (9) of the PBPT Act, where Deja Vu Farms has acted as benamidar for the ultimate benefits of Khan. Thus, the actor is a beneficiary for the said property under the prescribed law.

According to the report, Khan didn’t purchase the property in his own capacity. The company Deja Vu Farms was formed which claimed to have farming as its core activity. The two shareholders of the company were Srinivas Parthasarathy and Somasekhar Sundaresan in the year 2004. The first director was replaced by three others — Ramesh Chhiba, Savita Chhiba and Moreshwar Rajaram Ajgaonkar on the same day, said the report.

Ajgaonkar had declared himself as an agriculturist but didn’t use the land for farming. Khan allegedly lent Rs84.5 million to Deja Vu Farms. Interestingly, the Chhibas are Khan's in-laws.

The said property, measuring around 19,960 square metres, currently houses the actor’s luxury farmhouse.