By Jilawatan

The West Bengal government has cancelled the allotment of five cottahs of south Kolkata land given to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza in 2007.

Entangled in the controversy surrounding her proposed marriage with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, Sania had been allotted the land at Kasba, in south Kolkata, where she had planned to build a house. The land was allotted in September 2007 when she was in the city for the Sunfeast tournament.

State Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharya announced on Wednesday that the state government was withdrawing the allotment order for the land as Sania “did not deposit the price of the land on time”.

“When she (Sania) visited Kolkata for the 2007 Sunfeast tournament, she told me that she liked the city and wanted to build a house here. I offered her a plot of land in Kasba at the prevailing market rates,” Bhattacharya said.