UP premises linked to violence accused razed
KANPUR/MEERUT: The administration in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur and Saharanpur districts on Saturday demolished buildings belonging to people they alleged were involved in separate violent protests or their relatives.
A multi-storey building that the police claimed belonged to a close relative of the alleged mastermind behind the June 3 violence, Zafar Hayat Hashmi, was demolished using two bulldozers on Saturday morning amid heavy police presence in Kanpur’s Swaroop Nagar locality.
Kanpur development authority (KDA) that carried the action described it as routine and said notices were served a year ago on the owner Haji Ishtiyaq, who passed away recently. “The building was built illegally, so it is being demolished,” said Shatrughan Singh, KDA secretary.
Ishtiyaq’s son Iftikhar, who runs a tailoring shop in the building, claimed they were not served any notice by the KDA. “If my building is illegal, tell me what is illegal about it,” he said.
The 900sqft land belongs to Iftekhar’s family and a builder Haji Wasi, who was listed as land mafia, constructed the building, people in the locality told HT.
Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Anand Prakash Tiwari said the demolition was carried out in accordance with “norms and regulations”. “There are reasons to believe that the investment has been made by the prime accused of the violence case,” Tiwari said.
Iftikhar claimed he has never met Zafar and that his family was not even remotely related to him. “The second bulldozing began at 8.30am while the KDA office opens at 11am. We were given no time to plead our case.”