Once nightclub, now Baba Ramdev`s city headquarters

Mumbai, Aug 22: A nightclub, frequented by Bollywood stars, cricketers and even underworld operatives in its heydays, will now be yoga guru Baba Ramdev's city headquarters. The prime piece of property is estimated to be worth Rs 400 million.

The curtains will go down on Saturday afternoon on one ...

According to Sudhakar Shetty, the owner of the property located barely a stone's throw from the posh northwestern Juhu, the project will be dedicated to his parents, mother Varija and father Mallappa, who died around eight years ago.

Shetty said the 8,500 square feet property will be handed over to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogapeeth, through the Varija Mallappa Charitable Trust, at a function on Saturday that will be attended by Baba Ramdev.

Realty consultant Pagur Desai said at the prevalent market rates for commercial premises, the property is easily worth Rs 400 million.

Deepa Bar & Restaurant, for many years considered a jewel in the city's rocking nightlife, was also a workplace for multi-millionaire bar-dancers like Tarannum Khan.

Patronised by Bollywood stars, cricketers, politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats, foreign tourists, students, the police and underworld operatives during its heydays, Deepa Bar & Restaurant shut shop around four years ago after the death of Mallappa Shetty.

It had also witnessed many murky underworld dealings, including the cricketers-bookies-underworld nexus, and was the spot for some gang shootouts, according to a crime branch official.

The officials said the police used to gather valuable intelligence on crime and underworld activities from such places.

Sudhakar Shetty, a prominent builder and chairman of Sahana Group, said that commercial considerations were of least importance since his father had never wanted the property to be sold.

"Almost 25 years ago, with great effort my father had started and run the Santosh Lunch Home there. The idlis and vada sambar prepared there were popular in the locality. Later, in the early 1990s, it was leased to one Ashok Rai," Shetty recalled.

The new lessee decided to stay in tune with the times - he dismantled the eatery and converted it into one of the most glamorous nightclubs of the city, rivalling its south Mumbai counterpart, Topaz Bar & Restaurant, which was virtually a 'must-see' tourism destination.

IANS