Rockline Venkatesh plans to go to court over what he calls illegal sealing of his property
Well-known movie producer and owner of Rockline Mall, Rockline Venkatesh on Wednesday threatened legal action against the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) authorities for “illegally” sealing his property situated at T Dasarahalli in Bengaluru West.
“I want to know what made the BBMP officials visit the mall on Tuesday night to issue the notice. The manager of the mall told the BBMP officials to send the notice to me or wait till I come to the mall but they left stating that they can’t wait. If they can’t wait till I come to the mall, why did they visit the mall at night?’’ said Rockline Venkatesh.
Stating that around Rs 2 crore is being paid towards property tax for the mall as per the High Court’s direction, Venkatesh said he has already paid the property tax for the year 2023-24 and also intimated the BBMP about it.
“The BBMP officials did not respond to me. They merely visited the mall last night and asked the manager to receive the notice from them. They should have given the notice to me personally or sent it by speed post or registered post. They sealed the mall today (Wednesday) morning,’’ said Venkatesh.
He said he directed the employees working at the mall to lodge a complaint with the jurisdictional police station against the BBMP authorities. “I will file a petition in the honourable High Court seeking justice,’’ he said.
According to the press release issued by the BBMP, there is a property tax arrears of Rs 11.51 crore and the demand notice has already been issued to the property owner asking him to clear the property tax arrears pending from 2011-2012 to 2022-23.
The BBMP release has also claimed that Rockline Mall was sealed in the presence of Zonal Commissioner Preethi Gehlot, Joint Commissioner Bala Shekhar and revenue officials and BBMP Marshals from Dasarahalli Zone, and police.
Rockline Mall was launched by Home Minister of that time R Ashok. Rockine Venkatesh is known for bankrolling many Kannada movies including the recent box-office hit Katera in which Darshan played the lead. He was a co-producer for Hindi movie Bhajarangi Bhaijan too.
It may be recalled that the BBMP authorities sealed Mantri Mall in December for not clearing property tax arrears over Rs 51 crore. It was also sealed for a few hours in September 2021.
