‘High-handed’, fumes HC as Nagpur riot accused’s home razed before court stay | India News – The Times of India

The two-storey home of the principle accused, Fahim Khan, was razed inside 2 hours below heavy police safety. (PTI)

NAGPUR: Municipal bulldozers rolled into two Nagpur localities Monday morning, flattening two homes linked to suspects behind the riots on the night time of March 17, together with alleged mastermind Fahim Khan. The motion, carried out below a safety blanket of greater than 150 police personnel and anti-riot squads, got here simply hours before Bombay excessive court’s Nagpur bench halted demolitions of houses tied to the accused.
Hours after the demolition started within the morning, Nagpur bench of HC issued a stay on demolitions and criticising the administration for its “excessive-handedness”.
The court’s intervention adopted petitions difficult Nagpur Municipal Company’s motion as illegal and in violation of an SC ruling in opposition to punitive demolitions primarily based on felony allegations.
Bulldozers will goal extra buildings quickly: Nagpur official
By the point the Bombay excessive court’s stay order was issued, alleged riot mastermind Fahim Khan’s two-storey home close to Raza Masjid in Sanjay Bagh Colony was already decreased to rubble. One other focused property – owned by Abdul Hafiz Sheikh Lal in Johripura slum – had half of its construction demolished for unauthorised extensions. NMC cited violations below Maharashtra Regional and City Planning (MRTP) Act, issuing 24-hour demolition notices on Sunday.
Authorities are pushing forward with their bulldozer coverage after CM Devendra Fadnavis warned Saturday that properties of these liable for the violence could be demolished. The clashes in central Nagpur left one useless, over 40 wounded and greater than 50 autos broken. Khan was taken into custody on March 19. A burqa vendor and son of a cycle restore store proprietor, he had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in opposition to Union minister Nitin Gadkari, securing 1,000 votes.
Khan has been charged with two circumstances of sedition. Police alleged that he unfold inflammatory content material via viral movies within the hours main as much as the riots, which erupted after demonstrations demanding the removing of Aurangzeb’s tomb from Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
In Sanjay Bagh Colony, NMC’s anti-encroachment squad arrived at 8am, backed by a police cordon that locked down the neighbourhood. “Regardless of the plot’s lease expiring in 2020 and the structure being handed over to NMC, Khan constructed the multi-storey home with out approval from the civic city planning division,” an official mentioned. By 10.40am, as the 24-hour deadline expired, the demolition started. Inside two hours, Khan’s home – registered below his 69-yr-previous mom Mehrunissa Khan – was gone. Within the excessive court, petitioners led by Mehrunissa, mentioned the constructions had all essential approvals relationship again to 2003 and had by no means confronted objections from municipal authorities – till now.
“The NMC’s demolition discover isn’t solely arbitrary but additionally unconstitutional and quantities to focused harassment and selective enforcement, which is legally impermissible,” the petitioners claimed. They pointed to Supreme Court tips requiring the civic physique to rebuild sanctioned houses if demolished unlawfully. The division bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Vrushali Joshi sought an evidence from the NMC commissioner for the razing of properties.
A senior official mentioned the crackdown adopted a listing supplied by police, figuring out 51 suspects within the riots, together with eight prime-precedence targets. Nonetheless, authorities struggled to immediately hyperlink properties to the accused, as many had been registered below relations. Authorities have issued a demolition discover to Aziza Begum Shaikh Salim, whose property in Yadav Nagar allegedly contains unlawful extensions. Police linked the constructing to a relative accused within the riots. Officers mentioned extra properties will likely be focused within the coming days as groups work to identifyunauthorised constructions linked to these accused of final week’s violence.
‘Take away canine statue at Shivaji memorial’
Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and former BJP RS MP, has referred to as for removing of a canine’s statue close to the Maratha king’s Samadhi at Raigad fort in Maharashtra. Sambhajiraje has made the demand asserting there isn’t any historic foundation for the existence of the canine, named Waghya, throughout Shivaji’s time.