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

The two-storey home of the main accused, Fahim Khan, was razed within 2 hours under heavy police security. (PTI)

NAGPUR: Municipal bulldozers rolled into two Nagpur localities Monday morning, flattening two houses linked to suspects behind the riots on the night of March 17, including alleged mastermind Fahim Khan. The action, carried out under a security blanket of more than 150 police personnel and anti-riot squads, came just hours before Bombay high court’s Nagpur bench halted demolitions of homes tied to the accused.
Hours after the demolition began in the morning, Nagpur bench of HC issued a stay on demolitions and criticising the administration for its “high-handedness”.
The court’s intervention followed petitions challenging Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s action as unlawful and in violation of an SC ruling against punitive demolitions based on criminal allegations.
Bulldozers will target more buildings soon: Nagpur official
By the time the Bombay high court’s stay order was issued, alleged riot mastermind Fahim Khan’s two-storey house near Raza Masjid in Sanjay Bagh Colony was already reduced to rubble. Another targeted property – owned by Abdul Hafiz Sheikh Lal in Johripura slum – had part of its structure demolished for unauthorised extensions. NMC cited violations under Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, issuing 24-hour demolition notices on Sunday.
Authorities are pushing ahead with their bulldozer policy after CM Devendra Fadnavis warned Saturday that properties of those responsible for the violence would be demolished. The clashes in central Nagpur left one dead, over 40 wounded and more than 50 vehicles damaged. Khan was taken into custody on March 19. A burqa seller and son of a cycle repair shop owner, he had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against Union minister Nitin Gadkari, securing 1,000 votes.
Khan has been charged with two cases of sedition. Police alleged that he spread inflammatory content through viral videos in the hours leading up to the riots, which erupted after demonstrations demanding the removal 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. “Despite the plot’s lease expiring in 2020 and the layout being handed over to NMC, Khan built the multi-storey house without approval from the civic town planning department,” an official said. By 10.40am, as the 24-hour deadline expired, the demolition began. Within two hours, Khan’s home – registered under his 69-year-old mother Mehrunissa Khan – was gone. In the high court, petitioners led by Mehrunissa, said the structures had all necessary approvals dating back to 2003 and had never faced objections from municipal authorities – until now.
“The NMC’s demolition notice is not only arbitrary but also unconstitutional and amounts to targeted harassment and selective enforcement, which is legally impermissible,” the petitioners claimed. They pointed to Supreme Court guidelines requiring the civic body to rebuild sanctioned homes if demolished unlawfully. The division bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Vrushali Joshi sought an explanation from the NMC commissioner for the razing of properties.
A senior official said the crackdown followed a list provided by police, identifying 51 suspects in the riots, including eight top-priority targets. However, authorities struggled to directly link properties to the accused, as many were registered under family members. Authorities have issued a demolition notice to Aziza Begum Shaikh Salim, whose property in Yadav Nagar allegedly includes illegal extensions. Police linked the building to a relative accused in the riots. Officials said more properties will be targeted in the coming days as teams work to identifyunauthorised constructions linked to those accused of last week’s violence.
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