BMC accuses Sonu Sood of turning residential building into hotel; slaps police case

Mumbai's civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has filed a police complaint against Sood and investigation in the case will begin soon, said media reports.

This is the same building the actor had offered as a quarantine facility for media professionals during the lockdown period.

BJP has said the Maharashtra government and BMC are targeting Sonu Sood after Kangana Ranaut.

Reacting to the police complaint, BJP leader Ram Kadam said the complaint against social worker and actor Sonu Sood seems politically motivated.

In June last year when thousands of migrant workers in Maharashtra were in deep financial distress due to sudden Covid-19 induced lockdown and thousands were struggling to make it to their hometowns and villages in other states, Sonu Sood had arranged safe return for several of them. He had even opened a toll-free helpline to ensure assistance reached the needy amid the unprecedented crisis that robbed thousands of economically marginalised people of food and shelter.

At the time Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had mocked actor Sonu Sood in his satirical article in party mouthpiece Saamana, saying a new "Mahatma" had emerged in the lockdown period and termed him a "puppet in the hands of BJP".

The 47-year-old actor, who was widely praised for reaching out to the needy, later received several awards for his efforts during the pandemic.

On September 9, the BMC razed a part of Kangana Ranaut's office cum bungalow in the Pali Hill area of Mumbai alleging "unauthorised" construction.

The action was taken soon after her Twitter post where she equated Mumbai with "PoK" while criticizing the Mumbai police's handling of the Sushant Singh Rajput case.

Kangana Ranaut had moved the High Court against the demolition which termed the BMC's action as illegal and malicious.