School run by Rajinikanth's wife locked due to non-payment of rent

Children studying in The Ashram Matriculation school aided by Ragavendra Foundation and run by Latha Rajinikanth, wife of Tamil superstar Rajiikanth, were surprised to see the gates locked on Wednesday morning.

Close to 300 students study at the Ashram School at Guindy. They were immediately moved to Ashram ICSE school near Velachery.

The owner Venkateshvaralu stated that he locked the gates on Tuesday night, and he claims that the school ground was given for use in 2002. However, on 2013, he requested the management to leave the building as rents were not paid on time.

"14 months ago I filed a suit in the court seeking them to leave after paying rent which came upto Rs 10 crore. Their lawyer said that they cannot pay such a huge amount and instead paid only Rs 2 crore. After that, no money has been paid



and Latha has not responded or signed the memo.

But, Venkateshvaralu also claimed that he took the decision to lock the premises as he was unable to pay the service tax which has become a burden for him now.

"The service tax per month comes upto Rs 60,000 and I paid it last quarter from my pocket and I can't do it again. Now I can tell the IT department that there is no tenant, and so I don't have to pay any tax", he said.

From Latha Rajinikanth's part, a statement was released which said "This is for the information of the general public - The management of The Ashram School requests the public not to believe in news being circulated regarding the school. Kindly wait for our official press release regarding the same".

As far as now Latha Rajinikanth is expected to go for an out of court settlement.