Adnan Sami fined INR5,000,000 for buying Mumbai properties

A court in India has slapped a fine worth INR5,000,000 on singer Adnan Sami for buying properties in Mumbai in 2003, Indian media reported.

According to the reports, a tribunal for India's Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) imposed the hefty fine over the purchase of eight properties in Mumbai — when he was not an Indian citizen — without obtaining permission from the Reserve Bank of India.

The tribunal, on the other hand, refused the petition to confiscate the same properties but bumped up the prior fine of INR2,000,000 to INR5,000,000, which was to be paid in three months after the court's order. Sami had previously paid INR1,000,000 of the total fine.

"Sami shall deposit the remaining ₹40 lakh [INR4,000,000] with the respondent [ED] within three months from today. As no case under Section 13(2) [pertaining to the confiscation,] the said findings and part of the order is quashed,” the court said in its ruling, according to an Indian media outlet.

The publication noted that the flats in Mumbai had costed Sami almost INR25,300,000. He maintained that he was unaware of Pakistanis not being allowed to buy immovable property in India, it added.