Three men held for thrashing BJP MLA in east Delhi

NEW DELHI: Three men, allegedly in an inebriated state, barged inside Delhi BJP MLA O P Sharma’s Preet Vihar residence and thrashed him after an argument over parking of vehicle, following which they were arrested, police said on Monday.

The accused also misbehaved with the MLA’S security guard and the colony’s watchman, they said. It was alleged that some women, who were accompanying the accused, were also involved in the incident, but none of them were arrested, the police said.

The incident took place on Saturday night and a case was registered on Sunday following a complaint by Sharma’s security guard, they said.

The three accused – Rohit (30), Rajesh (40) and Sahil (18) – were subsequently arrested after a case was registered against them on the charge of attempt to murder, the police said.

Sahil, who had turned 18 the same day and the accused were out celebrating his birthday, is a student of Class 12 and was granted bail later, the police said.

The accused, who were allegedly drunk, had come to an ice-cream shop near Sharma’s residence in Preet Vihar, they said.

As they were trying to park their car outside the MLA’S residence, the colony’s watchman asked them not to do so but they started abusing him, police said.

The MLA, who was out to attend events, also arrived at that time and he and his security personnel tried to reason out with the accused but the accused refused to listen, the police said. After which the MLA went inside his house but the accused attacked the watchman, Sharma’s security personnel and then barged inside his house and beat up the MLA. The accused also allegedly threatened to kill Sharma. GURUGRAM: Numerous illegal colonies and structures are coming up in and around Gurugram, causing major problems to citizens. Sources claim that around 50 illegal colonies are coming up in and around the district, with land mafia creating such colonies in Sohna, Farrukhnagar and Pataudi areas.

As the rates of these plots are much lower than the prevailing market rates in Gurugram, these plots attract several buyers. The normal rate of residential plots in Gurugram ranges from Rs 50,000 per square yard and beyond, while the illegal plots are sold at Rs 16,000 per square yard.

While there are enough illegal colonies in the city centre itself, a large number of these townships have come up in the outskirts of the city, where the level of scrutiny is lower.

The growth of illegal colonies in the city has resulted in the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) being unable to meet its target of collecting adequate property taxes.

Highlighting a loss, officials of the Gurugram civic body are mulling regularisation of these colonies, provided they pay taxes.

Corrupt practices by public officials were recently highlighted after a raid by the Chief Minister’s flying squad on the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) office.

It was found that some officials were providing occupation certificates to builders who were building illegal colonies.

After the incident, public agencies including MCG, Department of Town Country Planning (DTCP) and HUDA have begun acting against errant builders.

Recently, notices were issued to builders in Sushant Lok area, who had flouted their surface area norms and constructed swimming pools in their builder floors. Notices were also sent to illegal paying guest facilities that have mushroomed in the city.

Besides the land mafia, these colonies are also being used by the water tanker mafia, who build illegal bore wells in these areas and then sell the water to residents at exorbitant rates.