Mumbai, Jun 3: Mumbai Police has registered an FIR against Bollywood veteran Rishi Kapoor on a complaint filed by BMC's garden department for allegedly excess trimming of a banyan tree than what was permitted inside his bungalow premises.
The assistant superintendent of garden had filed a complaint against the actor at the Bandra police station for allegedly cutting down more branches of trees hampering construction work at his bungalow than permitted by the civic authority.
Showcause notice
On April 13, the BMC officials issued a showcause notice to Kapoor, who lives with his family at Krishnaraj, his Pali Hill bungalow. According to the letter, the actor had sought permission to trim the tree in his bungalow premises and the BMC had allowed him to trim six branches. The civic body had also mentioned the permissible length of the trimmed branches.
The complaint letter states that Kapoor's contractor hacked off all the branches of the old tree and only its trunk remains now. The officials have questioned why action should not be initiated against the actor under the Maharashtra Protection and Prevention of Trees Act.
Files complaint
The civic body also wrote to the Bandra police station on Wednesday, asking them to investigate the matter and file an FIR, along with photographic evidence. An official said, "Under Section 8 (21) of the Maharashtra Protection and Prevention of Trees Act, a person, if found guilty of trimming or cutting illegally or beyond permissible limit, then he or she should be penalised up to Rs 5,000 and imprisonment up to 1 year."
"Kapoor had obtained permission for cutting six branches but it was found that more were felled," said Ramchandra Jadhav, Senior Police Inspector of Khar Police Station.
Police had initially registered a non-cognizable (NC) offence against the actor, he said. Now, a case has been registered against Kapoor under the Preservation of Trees Act, the official said, adding a probe was on.
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