Mumbai:

Actor Kangana Ranaut, whose Mumbai property was demolished by the civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Wednesday over alleged illegal construction, feels insulted and wants compensation, Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale said on Thursday after meeting with her in the Maharashtra capital. The politician, a BJP ally, also assured his party’s support to the actor.

“Met actor Kangana Ranaut and talked with her for an hour. I told her she has nothing to fear in Mumbai…Mumbai is the country’s economic capital and everybody has the right to live here…my party (RPI) is with her,” he told reporters after the meeting.

“She told me she felt insulted. Her office that she got constructed in January has been damaged. She said she didn’t know about 2-3 inches extra constructed by the builder. The BMC should have demolished that part but it damaged the inside walls and furniture. She has approached the court against this and wants compensation,” he added. 

Using a bulldozer and excavators, a BMC team demolished the alterations allegedly made without the civic body’s approval at her house on Wednesday.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had told NDTV that she had failed to produce documents “within 24 hours”.

The Bombay High Court, after the actor’s petition on Wednesday, ordered to stop the demolition of her house, but till then, considerable damage had been done to the property. The court today deferred the hearing in the case to September 22.

The BMC’s action comes amid a raging bitter exchange between the ruling Shiv Sena leaders and the actor, who has been critical of the Maharashtra government’s handling of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

After Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut last week asked the actor to not visit Mumbai, Ms Ranaut’s remark that “Mumbai felt like PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir)” triggered a huge controversy.

As several Sena leaders made objectionable remarks against her, she had dared the party to stop her from coming to Mumbai on September 9.

The BMC’s move has raised questions like whether the actor had been given enough time, since she had been out of Mumbai for months, and why no action was taken earlier.