New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) A day after a building collapsed in south Delhi killing two labourers, the AAP on Tuesday demanded that the police should register a murder case in connection with the incident, alleging that “illegal construction” was going on there at the behest of BJP leaders.
Nobody has so far been arrested, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party noted and accused the Delhi Police of working under the BJP’s pressure.
The party demanded that the “strictest punishment” should be given to the culprits and compensation should be provided to the kin of the victims.
Two labourers died and three others were rescued after a three-storey house that was undergoing renovation collapsed in south Delhi’s Satya Niketan area on Monday.
Police said another labourer, who was outside the dilapidated building at the time of the incident, had a narrow escape.
While the police later registered an FIR in connection with the case, the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) also announced a probe into the incident.
“If there is one concerned agency which is to be blamed for this collapse, it is the BJP-led MCD. If individuals must be singled out and held accountable (for the incident), they are the BJP leaders,” senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said in a statement.
He claimed that a “construction work” was underway at the site to merge two separate houses into one, and called it “illegal”.
“There is no way that a construction work as major as combining two houses can take place under the nose of the MCD (civic body) without BJP’s connivance in the matter,” he said.
The AAP demands that the Delhi police register a murder case against “the culprits”, he said.
“It’s been 24 hours, not a single person has been arrested , no one has been interrogated…. Police are operating under pressure of the BJP,” the AAP leader alleged.
After the incident, the SDMC had said a notice to the owner of the property had already been issued by the building department against carrying out “such alterations” on March 31 and the police were later requested on April 11 to stop the work.
“The question arises why the construction was not abandoned even after the MCD issued a notice,” the AAP leader Pathak said.
He claimed that “the construction work was aimed at combining House No 172 and 173 at the site, and the House No 172 was registered under the name of one Neelam Vashisht, a relative of the highly influential BJP leader Anil Sharma, who has served as councillor from RK Puram and was the BJP candidate over the last two elections.” “This clearly means that the notice was just an act..The BJP leader Anil Sharma and his entire family is to be held accountable for this incident,” he charged.
Hitting back, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor accused AAP leader of indulging in “dirty politics” to malign the SDMC, claiming that both the civic body and the local police had “tried their best” to to stop the “unapproved alterations” in the building.
“But, unfortunately, he (owner of the property) kept on doing it silently, mostly at odd hours. The property owner is sole culprit,” he said, adding, “Police will will take penal action in due course and prosecute (the accused).” AAP legislator Pramila Tokas, however, did not buy the BJP’s argument.
“How the construction was going on is just beyond my comprehension. The local councillor Manish Aggarwal lives right next to the site, the ex-MLA of the area also lives there. The locals say that the building belongs to their families only. It is the BJP who is being shielded,” the R K Puram MLA said in a statement. PTI PK PK TDS TDS
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Source: The Print
