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Here’s why Income Tax cracked down on Shah Rukh Khan’s Alibaug farmhouse

The IT department provisionally attached Shah Rukh Khan's farmhouse under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions (PBPT) Act

Shah Rukh Khan’s Alibaug farmhouse has come under scanner with the Income Tax department provisionally attaching it under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions (PBPT) Act, 2016. It has been alleged that the actor purchased the land via Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd for farming but constructed a sprawling farm house instead. Shah Rukh Khan’s in-laws, Ramesh Chibba, Savita Chibba and sister-in-law Namita Chibba are the directors of Deja Vu Farms.

Last month, the central government initiated a severe crackdown on all the ‘benami’ properties under the PBPT Act. The government amended the earlier Act and gave the taxmen more power by allowing them to attach ‘benami’ properties and confiscating them. According to the Act, a ‘benami’ transaction means ‘any transaction in which property is transferred to one person for a consideration paid or provided by another person’. And in Shah Rukh Khan’s case, Deja Vu Farms has acted as a ‘benamidar’ on his behalf as per Financial Express.

The case came to light after the Raigad collector Vijay Suryavanshi pointed out that the actor’s farmhouse violates the Coastal Regulation Zone laws. According to the report, a police complaint was also filed against Shah Rukh Khan for violating  the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act. It bars the transfer of agricultural land to a non-agriculturist without the approval of the collector or the state government.

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Shah Rukh Khan’s Alibaug farmhouse is spread across an area of 19,960 sq meters has a swimming pool and a helipad. The income from the ‘supposed’ agricultural land, that has been showed, is through a loan given by Shah Rukh Khan to the Deja Vu farms, which is owned by the actor himself.

In past, actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan have come under the IT scanner for their fraudulent land deals. In 2007, Amitabh Bachchan purchased a land in Maval Taluka in Pune posing as a farmer. Apparently, he bought a piece of land in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district and used it as a proof of his credentials as a farmer. A few months earlier to this development, the actor had filed a petition in UP’s Faizabad court, defending his claim of being a farmer. The court rejected his plea and cancelled the transfer of the farm land in his name, as per the Hindu .

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