Yash's Toxic faces legal notice, Minister promises action after illegal felling of trees for shoot

yash toxic

Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre announced on Monday that a show cause notice had been issued to officials regarding the case linked to the Kannada film Toxic, starring Yash.

The minister stated that action would be taken after assessing the officials' responses. He further revealed that the officials had wrongly asserted in an Interlocutory Application (IA) filed in the Supreme Court in 2020 that the forest land held by Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) had lost its designation as forest land.

He further mentioned that they requested denotification approval without securing prior permission from the Cabinet.

"It has already been suggested to withdraw this IA. In the last Cabinet meeting, ex-post facto approval was given to withdraw the IA,” said the minister.

On October 29, 2024, the 'Toxic' film crew was reprimanded for cutting down trees in Bengaluru's Peenya Plantation 1 and 2 to create a film set. Karnataka Forest Minister Khandre told reporters on Monday at the Vidhana Soudha that the film crew had received a lease from Canara Bank, which had acquired the land from HMT.

According to Khandre, HMT, which was shut down due to losses, sold 160 acres of land to various organisations, including private entities, for Rs 313 crore. However, in the certificate submitted to the Supreme Court at the time, the land’s value was stated to be Rs 14,300 crore.”In any case, this is a much-needed breathing space for Bengaluru city.

"One cannot put a price on it," added the minister.

He said the land would be reclaimed, and a park similar to Cubbon Park or Lalbagh would be developed there.”This is the property of seven crore Kannadigas. All Kannadigas should support the government in protecting it,” Khandre added.

(With Inputs: PTI)