Baba Sehgal threatens legal action against bank

Mumbai, July 24 (IANS) Rap and pop singer Baba Sehgal plans to sue Karnataka Bank for allegedly trying to defame him in the matter of a loan he had taken for business purposes by mortgaging his office and residential premises.

The singer said that although he had 'settled' the matter with the bank over two and a half years ago, he suddenly learnt that the bank was reportedly planning to issue a public notice against him for recovering the 'outstanding dues'.

'So far, I have not received any notice from the bank about the so-called dues on my loan which has already been settled,' Sehgal told IANS Thursday evening. He said he was consulting his lawyers for an appropriate legal action against the bank.

Despite several attempts by IANS, Karnataka Bank officials remained unavailable for comment.

Sehgal admitted he had availed two separate loans totalling to Rs.3 milllion for his Pioneer Sound Company. One was a business loan of Rs.2 million and another was a housing loan of Rs.1 million, he said.

He had mortgaged two properties - a 1,500 square feet flat and a 500 square feet office, both in the upmarket Versova area of northwest Mumbai - in 2000, against the loans secured from the Karnataka Bank's Manish Nagar Market Branch, Andheri west.

However, owing to certain financial crises, he was unable to clear off the instalment dues following which the bank is said to have moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) against him.

He was even served notices at the two properties' addresses he had given, but he was not traceable, ostensibly since he had 'sold' the properties.

Sehgal explained that he had requested his friends, J.S. Sethi and B. Rajkumar, to bail him out. They agreed and accordingly, Sethi paid an amount of Rs.1 million and Rajkumar paid Rs.2 million to get the residential and commercial premises papers cleared, along with a no-objection certificate, from the bank.

'Thereafter, they became the rightful owners of these properties respectively. Now, suddenly, out of the blue I am hearing about this DRT case and the public notice,' Sehgal said.