A Bharatiya Janata Party councillor slapped a junior engineer who was trying to stop unauthorised construction in south Delhi’s Sangam
Vihar on Wednesday.
The act was caught on camera which showed South Delhi Municipal Corporation councillor from Sangam Vihar East Neeraj Gupta hitting the junior engineer, surrounded by people where he had gone to stop an unauthorised construction.
But Gupta denied the allegations. “The issue is related to a 25-yard house where the owner, who is a poor man, was constructing its second floor. The junior engineer came and started demolishing the structure,” said Gupta.
When told about the video clip, the corporator said, “There was a lot of crowd and somebody must have pushed him. He was mistaken that I slapped him.”
The junior engineer could not be reached for a comment.
A senior official with the South Corporation said, “The junior engineer had gone to Sangam Vihar East to stop an unauthorised construction. Soon crowd gathered and chaos followed. Later, as the video shows, a tiff occurred between Gupta and the engineer, and the councillor then slapped him.”
DC to send report
“The corporation has taken cognisance of the reported incident. And the deputy commissioner will send a report to the Municipal Commissioner on this following which an inquiry would be taken up. The outcome of which would decide the nature of action whether to file an FIR or take some other action,” the official said.
Party spokesperson Nalin Kohli said, “I am not aware of the specifics of the incident nor have any detail. But as a principle, no person, especially a public figure, should slap anybody or abuse anybody. We have to function as a law-abiding citizens. And, if it has occurred, the state unit (of BJP) will take note of it,” Kohli said.
The incident comes at a time when Delhi is set to go to the polls on February 7 and is likely to provide ammunition to rivals Aam Aadmi Party and Congress to attack BJP, which is ruing at the Centre.
