Rajpal Yadav's ancestral property faces auction as bank seeks Rs 16.61 crore recovery

Ancestral Property Faces Auction Over Rs 16.61 Crore Debt

Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav, known for his comedic performances in over 200 films including hits like Hungama, Phir Hera Pheri, Garam Masala, and the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise, faces the prospect of losing his ancestral property as the Central Bank of India moves to recover outstanding dues of Rs 16.61 crore. The bank has posted an attachment notice at the actor's family home in Kundra village, Shahjahanpur district, located in north-central Uttar Pradesh approximately 100 miles northwest of Lucknow.

The notice warns that failure to clear the dues within 34 days could result in the mortgaged properties being sold at an online auction scheduled for September 9. A second property in Shahjahanpur has also been included in the recovery process, with both assets carrying a combined estimated market value of around Rs 3.19 crore.

Legal framework empowers bank action

The Central Bank of India is proceeding under the SARFAESI Act (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002), which empowers banks to recover non-performing loans without court intervention by auctioning secured assets. Under this legislation, borrowers are given a 60-day notice period to settle dues before action is taken, and banks must provide at least 30 days' public notice before property auction, published in newspapers and uploaded on designated e-auction platforms.

Film venture that triggered financial crisis

The debt stems from Yadav's directorial debut, Ata Pata Lapata, released in 2012. The National School of Drama graduate founded Navrang Godavari Entertainment Limited in 2005, registered under his parents' names, and secured a Rs 5 crore loan from the Central Bank of India's Bandra Kurla Complex branch in Mumbai to finance the film. To secure the loan, Yadav mortgaged several properties in Shahjahanpur, including assets belonging to his wife Radha Yadav, a film producer whom he married in June 2003, and his mother Godavari Yadav.

The film proved a commercial disaster, collecting only Rs 2.51 crore at the box office with an opening week of just Rs 0.37 crore. The poor performance left the loan unpaid, and accumulating interest and additional charges over the years have pushed the total owed to its current figure of Rs 16.61 crore. The film's troubled journey included a delayed release after the Delhi High Court stayed its October 2012 release following a cheating case filed by businessman M.G. Agarwal, who alleged Yadav took Rs 5 crore from him for the film and issued bounced cheques. The film finally released on November 2, 2012.

Family responds to auction threat

Rajpal Yadav's elder brother, Shripal Yadav, addressed the situation in comments to Dainik Bhaskar, characterizing it as a longstanding matter that predates the current notice. He stated that discussions with the bank regarding repayment are ongoing and expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved soon, adding that there is currently no active plan for the properties to go to auction.

Central Bank manager Anuj Verma confirmed to Indian Express that the notice had been placed on the family's ancestral property, noting that a similar notice was issued approximately two years earlier before the bank and the actor reached a repayment arrangement at that time.

Previous recovery attempts

This is not the bank's first attempt to recover the debt. In August 2024, when the outstanding balance stood at approximately Rs 11 crore, a team from the bank's Mumbai branch reportedly sealed part of a property near Dak Bungalow in Shahjahanpur. Local residents said the action was carried out abruptly, with some electrical appliances left switched on inside the property.

Concurrent legal troubles

The property attachment coincides with separate legal proceedings. On July 7, the Delhi High Court sentenced Yadav to three months in prison across seven cheque bounce cases connected to the same underlying loan. Under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, cheque bounce is a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment for up to two years, a fine up to twice the cheque amount, or both. The court ordered him to pay Rs 1.05 crore per case, with nearly Rs 2 crore he had already deposited to be adjusted against the total.

A magistrate's court originally convicted both Yadav and his wife in April 2018, sentencing him to six months in jail, a ruling upheld by the Sessions Court in 2019. In June 2024, the Delhi High Court granted a temporary stay on the sentence, directing the actor to clear roughly Rs 9 crore in outstanding dues. When he failed to meet that deadline, he was ordered to surrender in February 2026, which he did at Tihar Jail on February 5, before being granted interim bail twelve days later.

Professionally, Yadav was most recently seen in Welcome to the Jungle and is next set to appear in Priyadarshan's Haiwaan, alongside Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan.