British-American novelist Salman Rushdie’ Bungalow in controversy again

Shimla: Indian born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie’s Solan located bungalow is in thick of controversy as caretaker of this ancestral property are in face to face with each other regarding its possession.
It is worthwhile to mention here that author of world-famous fiction title Midnight’s Children and Satanic Verses won legal battle about 23 yrs ago to take possession of ‘Anees Villa’ is on Forest Road in Solan city but Rushdie couldn’t return here in the last 20 years. Solan’s Additional SP Ajay Kumar Rana said that a case has been registered on the complaint of some people vandalizing Anees Villa in Sadar police station. The matter is under investigation. Property was looked after by caretaker Govind Ram and Rajesh Tripathi who are face to face regarding the possession of this bungalow. The matter has reached the court. Rajesh Tripathi has lodged a case of sabotage against the caretaker of the bungalow, Govind.

Tripathi claims that he takes care of this bungalow. On the other hand, the caretaker Govind Ram claims that he has been taking care of the property for 25 years. Salman Rushdie and his friend Vijay Shankar had given him the responsibility of taking care of the property. On behalf of Govind Ram, his lawyer says that the matter is in the court and the court has given a stay order in it. Property caretaker Govind claims that 25 years ago, Salman Rushdie and his friend Vijayshankar had talked about giving him salary and other expenses in return for taking care of the property. Everything went well till the year 2012, but after that salary started coming occasionally. After the year 2018, the salary did not come even once. Now Rajesh Tripathi wants to get him out of here. Govind said that he would hand over this property only to its real owner, Salman Rushdie. Govind’s lawyer Vikrant Chauhan said that on October 8 itself some people came here and started throwing out Govind’s belongings. A petition was filed in the court on this, on which the court gave a stay. Rajesh Tripathi is not obeying this order, so he will file a case for disobeying the court order. Govind Ram made an illegal entry Rajesh Tripathi, on the other hand, claims that Salman takes care of Rushdie’s property. On November 23, 2022, he was present in this bungalow with Rani Shankar Das and her son Aniruddha Shankar Das. Anirudh Shankardas is a family friend of Salman Rushdie. At the same time Govind Ram, his son and others entered the property illegally. These people broke the locks of two doors, the door frame and the glass with a hammer. According to Rajesh Tripathi, when an attempt was made to stop Govind Ram and his companions, they shouted threatening abuses and threatened to kill them.
History of Anees Villa, it was built in the year 1927 which was later bought by Rushdie’s grandfather. Due to the documents of this bungalow being in the name of Anees Ahmed, the government declared this property benami from the year 1953 to 1969 saying that its owner had gone to Pakistan. After this, this building was sometimes occupied by Himachal Pradesh Education Department and sometimes by government officials. The bungalow was acquired after a legal battle. In the year 1992, Salman Rushdie claimed this building as his own. Salman Rushdie acquired the Anees Villa built in 2,934 sqm in the year 1997 after a legal battle that lasted almost 5 years. Today this building may be in dilapidated condition, but its value is in crores. (UNI)