Hyderabad: Officials of the Defence Estates Office in Secunderabad demolished a building at Tadbund belonging to one Kartik Agarwal on Saturday. The officials in an early morning operation razed the structure along with a temporary shed that housed a car showroom and an office.
Mr Agarwal alleged that he had a stay order from the court against demolition. They said they owned the land spread across 9.42 acres and had been paying property tax on it for five decades
“The Army demolished the structure without issuing us a notice. The demolition started at abuot 5:30 on Saturday and went on for nearly three-and-a-half-hours. Around 15 soldiers along with their rifles guarded the location, a JCB was used to partially demolish the structure in the presence of Defence Estate Officer Vineeth Nair,” Mr Agarwal said.
A temporary structure meant to house a car showroom and another structure which housed an office were also demolished. The demolished property is worth more than Rs 1 crore, he said. These were temporary structures and did not need permission, he said.
Sources said the DEO had demolished the building claiming that the property belonged to the defence ministry.
An officer of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board said, “Usually, the SCB conducts demolitions but we were not even informed about this.”
