Jaya's house in Hyd, now in Sasikala's name, slapped with Rs 35,424 tax

Hyderabad: J. Jayalalithaa’s house in Secunderabad has been served a property tax demand notice of Rs 35,424 by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board, two months after her death on December 4. The property with a ground and first floor was purchased by Jayalalithaa when she was in the film industry and was shuttling between Chennai and Hyderabad.

The property on Plot No 16 G/F, Radika Colony, West Marredpally, Secunderabad, is now in the name of “Ms Sasikala Natarajan”.

According to a Cantonment Board official, the property tax of Rs 35,424 was due for two years despite reminders. The notice was put up on Tuesday. “House owners have to pay property tax every year. Some do not pay it on time. Defaulters are sent notices. If the house is locked as it happens in some cases, we put up a notice at the house,” the official said.

Initially, a family stayed in the house but it is vacant since three months due to renovation work, according to locals. Th-e locals haven’t seen Sas-ikala visiting the house.

A frequent visitor to Hyderabad in her movie days, the actor-turned-politician used to stay in a star-graded hotel in Banjara Hills. She took a house on rent initially in Secunderabad and subsequently acquired several properties after she fell in love with the city.

She bought an agriculture land, ‘JJ Garden’ in Jeedimetla on Medchal Road in her name and the name of her mother Sandhya (Vedha), in 1968, where she has a grape garden on 14.50 acres. She subsequently acquired another 3.33 acres.

The grape garden was in the news during when the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy go-vernment served her a notice on January 25, 20-07, stating that an 8.1-acre portion had been assigned to the poor during 1956-59. Jayalalithaa, who bought the land from different people, had denied the charges.

Jayalalithaa also owned a 14,000 sq ft building in Srinagar Colony which she acquired on Decem-ber 11, 1967. It is not clear if Jayalalithaa left behind a will and whether the property in Secunderabad was transferred.

In 2015, Jayalalithaa declared assets worth Rs 117.13 crores, including movable assets worth Rs 45.04 crore and immovable assets valued at Rs 72.09 crore, in her affidavit before the Election Commission for the RK Nagar bypolls in Tamil Nadu which included her Hyderabad properties.