Hyderabad: Against the backdrop of heightened political animosities, R.P. Thakur, director general of police of Andhra Pradesh, demolished a portion of his house situated in Prashasan Nagar in Jubilee Hills on Tuesday.
He did so after receiving a notice from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Monday, though he had secured a status quo order from the High Court earlier in the day.
According to GHMC officials, this was the third notice that Mr Thakur had been sent by the GHMC to remove that portion of the structure which deviates from the sanctioned plan.
As GHMC personnel stood by and watched, staff employed by Mr Thakur’s family demolished the compound wall which allegedly encroached on a park adjacent to the house.
The action came just two days after a police team from Andhra Pradesh, led by an ACP rank officer, landed on the doorstep of whistleblower T. Lokeswara Reddy, who had alleged that data of AP voters was being used by a private company.
The AP police team reached the city just hours after the case was registered against the company, IT Grids India, for alleged data theft.
The AP team also asked Cyberabad police to hand over four employees of the company who they were questioning.
The interference of the AP police in the investigation not only irked the Telangana state police, but also drew flak from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti and its working president, K.T. Rama Rao.
Given this background, slapping the notice on the AP DGP by the GHMC, and asking him to remove the alleged illegal portions within 24 hours, has raised eyebrows in political circles in two Telugu states.
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday said the GHMC had turned a Nelson’s eye to the rampant illegal constructions in the city. The court was particularly referring to illegal constructions at Prashasan Nagar in Jubilee Hills by Andhra Pradesh DGP R.P Thakur.
The court remarked that it was the laxity of GHMC officials that encouraged violators to build illegal constructions without fear.
