Benami property charges against Shah Rukh Khan over Alibaug farmhouse dropped
The Adjudicating Authority (AA) has slammed the Income-Tax Department, for issuing an attachment order in February 2018, against actor Shah Rukh Khan and a company in which he, his wife Gauri Khan and in-laws are shareholders, over a property in the scenic beach town of Alibaug in Maharashtra. “A commercial transaction entered into course of business by an independent entity, cannot be coloured as benami transaction, because it had sourced the funds from loans,” the authority noted.
The I-T Department had also charged that as Khan was ‘not an agriculturist, he sought to purchase the land by forming Ms Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd, a front entity and giving it colour of company engaged in agriculture’. The department had also said in its order that a person, Moreshwar Rajaram Ajgaonkar, was a ‘front’ for Khan, as the actor used the former’s credentials of being an agriculturist, to purchase the land by making a representation under the said category before the additional collector of Raigad, the district under which Alibaug falls. It had also charged that the company was incorporated ‘on the instructions’ of Khan, as he was interested in purchasing a property in Alibaug for the construction of a farmhouse. The taxman had said in its complaint that the objective of the firm (Deja Vu) was stated to undertake agricultural activity on the land and the Raigad district state government gave permission to purchase the land with a ‘condition’ that it will be put to use within three years, for the purpose of farming.
See also: Benami assets worth Rs 6,900 crores confiscated so far: I-T Department
Rosalina Pong
The tax department had attached the farmhouse and plot, built on an agricultural land, in Alibaug, worth about Rs 15 crores and had called the company – Ms Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd – a benamidar (in whose name the benami property is standing) and the 53-year-old actor as a beneficiary (who pays money consideration) of a benami deal, booked under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act. The 1988 enacted law was implemented by the Modi government from November 2016, saying it was aimed to crack down against black money and stash holders.
As per the anti-benami law, once proven, a benamidar (in whose name a benami property is standing) and the beneficiary (who pays money consideration) are prosecutable and may face rigorous imprisonment of up to seven years, besides being liable to pay fine of up to 25 per cent of the fair market value of the benami property.
