NEW DELHI: A native of Bihar has been giving sleepless nights to income tax department officials for the past seven years by grabbing a major chunk of a five-acre plot they had bought to build a housing society at Abhay Khand 2, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.
As many as 132 income tax officials had bought the land from Ghaziabad Development Authority in 2005, and the layout plan to build Akansha Cooperative Society was approved in 2010, following which a boundary wall was also built.
But, in the meantime Bhola Ram Gupta put up a temporary shanty near the entrance gate of the compound. Within a year, he encroached upon 5,377 sq m area, and started giving it on rent to ragpickers to set up their shanties. Following a complaint from the owners to the police, a case was registered against Gupta. He was arrested, but he soon got bail, and lodged a counter FIR against the owners alleging that they were forcefully trying to evict the families from the land, which he claimed as his. The officials, on the other hand, approached Uttar Pradesh Human Rights Commission (UPHRC), which directed the police to demolish the shanties. But the court issued a stay.
Eventually, Gupta failed to produce any legal documents in the court to prove that land belonged to him. The court stated, “Nobody has any right to deprive a person from enjoying his own property. Since Gupta is a trespasser who does not possess any legal document, it is the obligation of the SSP to evict him from the land which he has forcibly and illegally occupied, and restore the possession to the rightful owner.”
Following court’s order, the UPHRC ordered the police to get the area vacated.
Anil Yadav, circle officer, Indirapuram police station, said, “A demolition drive was launched against the encroachers last week but they were unable to vacate the plot owing to stiff resistance from the ragpickers. They resorted to stone pelting. Later, talks between the owners and Gupta were arranged by the police but they remained inconclusive.”
Meanwhile, society secretary S K Mehra, “All this is happening due to the clear nexus between Gupta and the authorities. If anybody goes to talk to him, he instigates the ragpickers to throw stones at them.”
Gupta has settled 40 families on the land and built a house for himself. He has also been illegally providing utilities.