KP govt releases funds to purchase ancestral homes of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar

PESHAWAR: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has released the funds to purchase the ancestral homes of Bollywood legends Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in Peshawar.

The directorate of archeology has transferred Rs20.357 million in Deputy Commissioner's account to buy the homes located in Dhaki Dilgaran and Mohallah Khudadad near Qissa Khwani Bazaar.

Documents showed that the government released Rs8.56 million for the acquisition of Dilip Kumar's family home and Rs 15 million to purchase Kapoor's family home.

Director (archaeology) Dr Abdul Samad said the archeology department would not back out of purchasing the houses, adding that the current owners of the properties could not reject the government's offer to buy the properties.

"Only prices of the houses can be discussed with the owners," he said.

Ali Qadir, the current owner of the Kapoor house, said he would approach the court against the price fixed by the government. He said that the market value of per marla land in the area stood at Rs40 million.

He demanded the government pay Rs2 billion to buy the Kapoor family home.