Nagpur riots key accused’s house razed before HC orders stay

Mumbai: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation authorities flattened a two-storey “illegal” house of Fahim Khan, a key accused in the Nagpur violence who has been booked for sedition, hours before the Bombay High Court stepped in and ordered a stay on the action.
The authorities on Monday also removed an “illegally” constructed balcony of a house of another accused Yusuf Sheikh in the Mahal area, where the violence took place on March 17.
The action came even as the High Court’s Nagpur bench questioned why the owners of the houses were not given a hearing before demolishing the alleged illegal portions, and the rapped the administration for “high-handedness”.
Khan, a leader of the Minority Democratic Party (MDP) currently in jail, has been booked for sedition.
He is among over 100 persons arrested for the violence in the Maharashtra city where mobs went on a rampage amid rumours that a chadar’ with holy inscriptions was burnt during protests by VHP and Bajrang Dal activists for the removal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
A few days back, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation issued a notice to Khan, citing various lapses and lack of the building plan approval (for his house), sources said.