Bollywood veteran Rishi Kapoor in the dock for hacking a banyan tree

Rishi Kapoor

BMC's garden department is taking its job seriously. On Wednesday, the assistant superintendent of garden filed a complaint against actor Rishi Kapoor at the Bandra police station for excess trimming of a banyan tree than what was permitted inside his bungalow premises.

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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.

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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."