Bombay HC stays demolition of Kangana’s property

 The Bombay High Court stayed demolition of actor Kangana Ranaut’s property by the Mumbai civic body for ‘illegal construction’.

The court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file a reply on the actor’s petition. The matter will be heard at 3pm today before the bench of justice SJ Kathawalla.

“We filed a petition this morning seeking urgent hearing. We have sought a stay on the demolition process by way of interim relief,” Ranaut’s advocate Rizwan Siddiqui told news agency PTI. The BMC on Wednesday demolished “illegal alterations” at the Bandra bungalow of Ranaut, a civic official said.

The actor shared photos of the officials demolishing parts of her bungalow and called it the “death of democracy”. “Pakistan.... #deathofdemocracy”, she tweeted. Sharing another set of pictures of the demolition squad, she wrote, “Babar and his army”.

‘Your ego will be destroyed’: Ranaut tells Thackeray

AActor Kangana Ranaut landed in Mumbai Wednesday from Himachal Pradesh, angry and caustic as she took on the Shiv Sena, called her home “Ram mandir”, referred to ‘Bullywood’ and described herself as the daughter of Chhatrapati Shivaji in a series of tweets and a video. The “Queen” actor, who has been given Y-plus category security from the Centre, was met with black flags and slogans from protesting Shiv Sena workers. But there was support too from workers of the RPI (A) and Karni Sena, who also gathered at the airport. Addressing Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, Ranaut posted a video message saying his “ego will be destroyed” the way her Bandra home was demolished.

The actor said she is working on a project on Ayodhya but now understands the pain of Kashmir Pandits and will also make a movie on their plight.

Ranaut, known for her provocative statements, again compared Mumbai with Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) after the Shiv Sena-led BMC demolished “illegal alterations” at her Bandra bungalow.

“Uddhav Thackeray, ‘tujhe kya lagta hai’ (what do you think)?. You think you have taken a huge revenge by destroying my house in collusion with the movie mafia. Today my house is destroyed, tomorrow it will be your ego. The wheels of time keep changing,” she said in a video message in Hindi, referring to the chief minister in the informal ‘tu’ rather than the more respectful ‘aap’.

On Wednesday, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told India Today, “I have never threatened Kangana Ranaut, I only expressed my anger at Mumbai being likened to POK, am not responsible for what action BMC takes.. matter is over for me, Kangana is welcome to live in Mumbai.” 

Ranaut also shared few photographs of BMC officials at her house, with the captions “Pakistan... #deathofdemocracy” and “Babur and his army #deathofdemocracy”.

The actor posted past photos from the building, calling it her own “Ram Mandir”.