Cong raises questions over ‘withdrawal’ of BoB auction notice for Sunny Deol’s Juhu villa

PTI, Aug 21, 2023, 10:09 AM IST

The Congress on Monday raised questions about the Bank of Baroda reportedly withdrawing the e-auction notice for the Juhu bungalow of BJP MP Sunny Deol, asking who triggered the ”technical reasons” for the withdrawal.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, ”Yesterday afternoon the nation got to know that Bank of Baroda had put up the Juhu residence of BJP MP Sunny Deol for e-auction since he has not paid up Rs 56 crore owed to the Bank. This morning, in less than 24 hours, the nation has got to know that the Bank of Baroda has withdrawn the auction notice due to ‘technical reasons’.” ”Wonder who triggered these ‘technical reasons’?” he said.

The state-owned Bank of Baroda had put on the block a property owned by the actor to recover Rs 56 crore through an e-auction to be held on August 25.

The Gurdaspur MP, whose latest movie Gaddar 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 and interest and penalty, since December 2022, the second largest state-owned lender said in a public tender on Sunday.

However, the auction notice for the bungalow has been withdrawn, media reports said Monday. The actor is officially known as Ajay Singh Dharmendra Deol and has been representing the ruling BJP from the Punjab seat since 2019 when he won the seat with a big margin defeating the then Congress member Sunil Jhakar.