New Delhi, May 10 (Agency) Delhi Police on Monday evening filed an FIR against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and his supporters for allegedly obstructing South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) demolition drive carried out at Shaheen Bagh earlier in the day. According to DCP South East Delhi, Esha Pandey, Khan and his supporters are booked under section 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assaulting public servant) of the IPC. The FIR was filed after the civic body filed a complaint against the AAP leader at the Shaheen Bagh Police Station. The civic body alleged that the AAP MLA and his supporters did not allow the municipal officials to carry out a demolition drive in the Shaheen Bagh.
According to the complaint copy seen by the UNI, the civic authority complained to the police to book Khan and supporters for “interfering in the discharge of official duties by public servants.” However, the corporation was directed by SDMC Mayor Mukkesh Suryaan after he received a letter from Delhi BJP Chief Aadesh Gupta to take legal action against Khan and other opposition leaders who resisted the demolition drive Shaheen Bagh. Khan and leaders from Congress along with many activists had protested earlier in the day to stop the civic agency from carrying out the demolition drive in the Shaheen Bagh area. Bulldozers reached Shaheen Bagh on Monday morning as the SDMC pushed ahead with its anti-encroachment drive in the locality that became the epicentre of the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019-2020.
However, a huge number of residents came out to stop the anti-encroachment drive. Area MLA Amanatullah Khan even sat in front of the bulldozer along with a few other political leaders to cease the drive. However, following dharna and sloganeering by residents and activists from the AAP and Congress, the SDMC officials part of the demolition drive returned with bulldozers without conducting the exercise. Residents and AAP MLA alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party is using the civic bodies to play politics against the minority community in the shroud of the anti-encroachment drive. Khan said that there was no illegal structure in the locality as he made them removed from the area a while ago. Only a scaffolding was removed outside a residential building in today’s demolition drive. It was set up to renovate the building, according to the locals.