Sonu Sood is a habitual offender: Mumbai Civic Body to court

Mumbai : Bollywood actor Sonu Sood may be helping a lot of people these days but the BMC has a different opinion and has tagged him as a "habitual offender" and informed Bombay High Court that the actor keeps carrying out unauthorised construction work in a residential building in suburban Juhu despite demolition action initiated on two occasions in the past.

The affidavit has been filed in response to the petition filed by Sonu Sood last week challenging a notice issued against him by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in October last year and an order passed by a civil court in December 2020 dismissing his suit against the notice.

The BMC has alleged that Sonu Sood made structural changes in the six-storey residential building ''Shakti Sagar'' and was aiming to convert it into a commercial hotel.

"The appellant is a habitual offender and wants to enjoy the commercial proceeds of the unauthorised work and therefore once again started reconstructing the demolished portion in order to make it operational as a hotel albeit illegally and without permission from the License department," the civic body said in the affidavit.

As per the affidavit, Mr Sood was trying to protect an "ex-facie illegal commercial hotel which has been constructed and modified by the appellant (Sood) contrary to the sanctioned building plan".

"The appellant has not been given permission for change of user of the said property from residential to commercial and there is no license to run the commercial hotel," the affidavit said.

The BMC also alleged that he is carrying out unauthorized hotel operations in the building. 

"The appellant, who has totally modified an entire building unauthorisedly into a hotel, is running the same without a license," the municipal corporation said.

The BMC said initial action was initiated against the illegal construction in September 2018 but Mr Sood continued the construction work.

On November 12, 2018, demolition of the unauthorised work was carried out.

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