Riteish, Genelia in legal trouble over land allotment

Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh has landed in controversy over the allotment of a plot to his agro-processing company in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area in Latur.

Latur District Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Gurunath Mage claimed that Deshmukh’s company, Desh Agro Private Limited, was allocated the land within three weeks of its formation and just ten days after the submission of the application for the allotment of the same.

Riteish’s wife, Genelia Deshmukh, is a co-owner of the company.

According to MIDC rules, allotment of land is to be on a priority basis for projects being set up with a capital of more than Rs 20 crore.

The BJP leader said the land allotment requests of 16 such projects whose capital investment is above Rs 20 crore have been pending since 2019. Mage said Desh Agro, which was registered on 21 March 2021, had demanded an allotment of land in the month of April. “Within just 9 days, three plots of more than 2.5 lakh square metres were allocated to them together.”

“When 16 requests are pending since 2019, then how is the land allotted to Deshmukh’s company in a hurry within 10 days? There should be an inquiry into it.”

Mage claimed that the allotment of the land was made at the rate of Rs 605 per square metre. The land was handed over to Desh Agro on 22 July, while the district cooperative bank gave it the first loan instalment of Rs 61 crore on 27 October, Mage said.

BJP Latur city vice-president Pradeep More said that cooperative banks are formed to financially support businesses run on a cooperative basis. He alleged that the district cooperative bank was controlled by former minister Diliprao Deshmukh.