The “Bulldozer politics” made its foray into Maharashtra on Monday, as the civic officials on Monday used JCB machines to pull down the Nagpur-based house of Fahim Shamim Khan, a leader of the Minority Democratic Party (MDP) who has been booked for sedition in connection with the communal violence that rocked the orange city last week.
In a development that came two-days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis warned of “bulldozer action” against the accused persons in the Nagpur riots, the NMC officials —accompanied by three JCB machines of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) —on Monday morning arrived at Sanjay Bagh Colony in Nagpur’s Yashodhara Nagar area where they demolished the house of Fahim Khan, amid heavy security and drone surveillance.
The NMC resorted to “Bulldozer action” — which has over the recent years gained prominence in the Yogi Adityanath-ruled Uttar Pradesh — under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning) Act (MRTP), as the construction of the building was “unauthorised”.
Registered in the name of Khan’s mother, the demolished plot was located on a plot of Nagpur Improvement Trust (Lease) and its lease ended in 2020.
“There was no sanction plan for the building. The entire construction was unauthorised. We took the action under the MRTP Act. We had served a notice to the owner of the house 24 hours prior to the action,” NMC’s Assistant Municipal Commissioner Harish Raut said.
A strong posse of police officers and personnel was present when the Nagpur Municipal Corporation officials carried out the “bulldozer” operation.
In addition to Khan’s house, the NMC officials also demolished some illegal portions of a property belonging to another accused Yusuf Shaikh in the Johripur area of Mahal in Nagpur. Two shops linked to the accused too were sealed during the operation.
It may be recalled that on March 19, Minority Democratic Party Leader Fahim Khan was arrested for his alleged role in the communal riots that erupted in Nagpur on the night of March 17.
Fahim Khan — said to be the master-mind behind the Nagpur riots who was later booked for sedition — is currently lodged in jail is among the over 100 persons, mostly Muslims arrested for the communal violence in Nagpur.
Thirty-eight-year-old Fahim Khan has been named as one of the key accused in an 18-page FIR registered in connection with the Nagpur violence. The police said that preliminary investigations and the video that surfaced after Monday’s disturbances indicated that Khan’s inflammatory speech incited the violence.
Among other things, the FIR stated that Khan led a group of “50 to 60” people that gathered outside the Ganeshpeth police station on Monday and submitted a memorandum against the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s protest to the police.
After the protest, Khan and eight others went to the Bhaldarpura area where he reportedly addressed a gathering of 600 people and criticised the VHP and Bajrang Dal.
Communal violence had broken out on the evening of March 17, hours after the 200-odd workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal staged a protest near the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Nagpur demanding the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb at Khuldabad near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad) and allegedly burnt an effigy of Aurangazeb.
However, the protest sparked rumours that a holy book had been desecrated, leading to violence in Nagpur’s Chitnis Park, Mahal, Kotwali and Ganesh Peth areas. At least 40 persons, including 33 police personnel, were injured and scores of vehicles were damaged in Bhaldarpura area.
Fahim Khan, as a Minority Democratic Party candidate, had contested unsuccessfully against senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Nagpur constituency. He had polled mere 1073 votes as against 6,55,027 votes secured by Gadkari.
In all, six FIRs have so far been registered and nearly 100 persons have been arrested in connection with the Nagpur violence.
