Rani hopes for end to Shirdi land dispute

Shirdi: Actress Rani Mukherjee today said she was anxiously awaiting the end to the dispute over her land here and wanted to construct a bungalow in Saibaba`s abode.

"I am a citizen of Shirdi. I am eagerly awaiting the dispute to end soon. As soon as I am through, I will have my own bungalow in Shirdi," she said. Rani, who will be seen in Reema Kagti`s suspense thriller `Talaash` co-starring Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor and Sachin Kundalkar`s `Aiyaa`--which is slated for Dussehra release--was talking to reporters after taking darshan of Saibaba at the famous shrine. Rani had bought 11-guntha plot (12,000 sq ft) in Shirdi, which falls under the Shrirampur sub-division, from Sampat More, who had sold the land to Mukherjee. She later applied for transfer of ownership. However, it turned out that the land in question was part of a bigger plot belonging to government. Once the matter came to light, Rani, who bought the land for Rs 33 lakh in 2005, was denied its ownership as Shrirampur SDO Nandkumar Suryavanshi declared the deal as illegal. It was also found that there were 16 other owners who purchased plots from the same land. The state government had initially ordered attachment of the land which was later reversed. PTI