Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; April 28, 2014)

When Manoj Bajpayee returned from Mauritius after a 25-day shooting schedule for his first home production, he was in for a rude shock. It seems that a pipe in the actor’s home, located on 34th floor of a high-rise building, was broken, due to which his apartment got flooded with water. With water gushing out of his flat, even the building’s elevator was damaged.

Says a source, “Due to water leaking out from Manoj’s apartment, the elevator was severely damaged. The actor has now been fined by the housing society; they want him to pay for the elevator’s repairs.” When contacted, the actor confirmed the news. “Yes, the society has asked me to pay penalty and as a law abiding resident, I will pay for the damages,” he said. An eyewitness recounts the incident. “A pipe that leads to the refrigerator had ruptured and this resulted in water leaking out of the fridge. When we opened the door to the flat, we saw that the house was in a complete mess; everything on the floor was soaked in water. Thankfully, nothing serious had happened,” says the eyewitness.

Manoj has now turned producer with Neeraj Pandey directing the venture. The as-yet-untitled film stars Tabu along with Manoj.