Sunny Deol offers to settle dues for his Mumbai bungalow: BoB

Sunny Deol offers to settle loan dues; Bank of Baroda withdraws auction notice for Juhu bungalow citing technical reasons. Deol's father Dharmendra is the personal guarantor of the debt, while Sunny Sounds is the corporate guarantor. Congress questions the withdrawal, asking who triggered the "technical reasons".

Facing prospects of his bungalow in Mumbai being auctioned to recover unpaid loans, Bollywood actor Sunny Deol has offered to settle all outstanding dues, prompting State-owned lender Bank of Baroda to drop auction proceedings for the property.

The Gurdaspur MP, whose latest movie Gadar 2 is a box office success having already grossed over ₹300 crore since the release last week, has been in default on a ₹55.99 crore loan from the bank, interest and penalty, since December 2022.

The lender issued a statement on Monday, saying that Mr. Deol has offered to settle the dues, after which it withdrew the public notice to auction the villa owned by the actor and sitting BJP Member of Parliament, citing technical reasons, a move that was questioned by Congress.

“In the meantime, the borrower has approached the bank for settling the dues as per the sale notice published on August 20, wherein the borrower/guarantors were notified that they are entitled to redeem the securities by paying the outstanding dues/costs/charges and expenses at any time before the sale is conducted,” the bank said.

Bank of Baroda said the auction notice was withdrawn after the borrower agreed to settle dues as well as due to certain technical reasons.

Explaining the technical reasons, the second largest public sector lender said the total dues did not specify the exact quantum of dues to be recovered. Also, the sale notice was based on a symbolic possession of the property as per Rule 8(6) of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules 2002.

The bank said, an application to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate sent on August 1, seeking physical possession of the property, is pending. “Since the unit is running as conveyed to us by the borrower, sale/action will be initiated as per the provisions of the Sarfaesi Act, once the physical possession is taken.”