A senior bureaucrat in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Friday filed a police complaint alleging that a top political functionary threatened him when he refused to stop an eviction drive.
In his complaint to the police, Enforcement Director Neeraj Bharti alleged that NDMC vice-chairperson Karan Singh Tanwar misbehaved with him on Thursday evening. According to police sources, Mr. Tanwar allegedly called Mr. Bharti to his office at 3.45 p.m. and asked him to halt an ongoing drive against squatters in Sarojini Nagar.
The BJP leader allegedly asked the official to call off the enforcement inspectors, who were cracking down on encroachment. Mr. Bharti told the Vice-Chairperson that it was a policy issue and that squatters couldn’t be spared under the current rules.
According to Enforcement Department sources, a drive to identify all squatters has been on for over a month now.
When Mr. Bharti refused, Mr. Tanwar allegedly abused and threatened him. About 25 people, including some of the squatters, were in the Vice-Chairperson’s room and allegedly confined Mr. Bharti for 15 minutes. The bureaucrat first sent the complaint to NDMC chairperson Naresh Kumar and then forwarded it to Connaught Place police station.
Denying the allegations against him, Mr. Tanwar said the Enforcement Department was a “hotbed of corruption”.
“About 300 street vendors from Sarojini Nagar, Janpath and Connaught Place who had permits and had been evicted by the department had came to me for help. I called Mr. Bharti and told him to only evict the unauthorised vendors, but he refused and threatened me,” said Mr. Tanwar.
He added that the complaint was politically motivated.
“The Aam Aadmi Party members of the Council put him up to filing the complaint. Does this mean that as Vice-Chairperson I can’t call an official to discuss matters?” said Mr. Tanwar
A senior police officer said Mr. Bharti forwarded the copy of the letter, through which he has raised the matter with the higher ups in his department and a formal complaint was awaited.
“We have contacted him and once he records his statement we can proceed with the registration of the FIR and the follow up actions,” said the officer.
Denying the allegations, NDMC vice-chairperson Karan Singh Tanwar said the Enforcement Department was a “hotbed of corruption”
