Who is Ketan Kakkar? Full story of friendship with Salman Khan, land dispute and defamation case

These days Salman Khan is in the news about his famous Panvel Farmhouse. Actually, there is a property dispute going on with his oldest neighbor Ketan Kakkad for the last 7 years. Recently the Bombay High Court has made a very important and strict comment on this matter. The court has directed Ketan Kakkar to immediately remove all social media posts and videos related to Salman Khan and Panvel property dispute. Whose hearing will now be held on July 6. However, now the question in people’s mind is that who is Ketan Kakkar and how can he become Salman Khan’s neighbour?

Who is Ketan Kakkar?

Ketan Kakkar is a retired NRI, who is the neighbor of Bollywood star Salman Khan at ‘Arpita Farmhouse’ in Panvel. He has been in the headlines for the last few years due to a big land and defamation dispute going on with Salman Khan. Ketan Kakkar had bought a plot on the hills of Panvel in the 1990s, which is right next to Salman Khan’s farmhouse. He wanted to build his retirement home there.

How was the relationship between Khan and Kakkar?

Being neighbors, Kakkar and Khan family had a very friendly relationship. Both the families would jog together, go fishing on the river bank and were always involved in other activities. The rift in this friendship did not happen suddenly, it started in the year 2014. When the Kakkars returned from America, they started building a small ashram and an eco-friendly Ganesh temple on their plot. But due to the huge gate of Panvel and the obstructions of the Khan family, problems started arising in the construction of his ashram and temple. The couple said that after a while they were not able to even access their property. Even the electricity connection there was cut.

When did relations deteriorate?

Initially the relations between the two families were quite good. Ketan Kakkar alleges that due to the construction of Salman Khan’s farmhouse, the access road to his plot was blocked. He also accused Salman of violating environmental rules. On the other hand, Salman Khan’s lawyers say that the deal for the land that Ketan Kakkar wanted to buy was canceled as it was found illegal, after which they started accusing Salman. On this disputed property, Ketan Kakkar alleges that Salman Khan and his family were behind the cancellation of this land deal, so that they could take control of that land.

Comparison of Salman with Mughal rulers

However, where in such cases people take recourse to law, Ketan Kakkar took the help of social media. Which made the matter worse. He made very serious and controversial allegations against Salman Khan through many YouTube videos and social media posts. In these videos, he compared Salman Khan with Mughal rulers Babar and Aurangzeb and also claimed that illegal activities were taking place at the farmhouse.

Defamation case against the couple

After these allegations, in the year 2022, Salman Khan filed a defamation case of Rs 295 crore against Ketan Kakkar. Salman’s lawyers told the court that Ketan was damaging his personal image in a property dispute and was deliberately dragging religion into it. During this time, the Kakkar couple did not back down and admitted in the court that they had taken the help of social media. Ketan had said in the court that he had not said anything obscene or derogatory against Salman Khan. It was just a request from an elderly couple to visit their land and visit the Ganesh temple. Kakkar argues that raising voice to protect one’s own land and rights does not fall under the ambit of ‘defamation’ in any way. He says that he was only expressing his views as an aggrieved citizen.