The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Friday that the process of demolishing fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s bungalow at Alibaug has started.
A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2009 by Sambhuraje Yuvakranti of Akhil Bhartiya Maratha Seva Sangh. The PIL is with respect to the failure of the State government and Union of India to take action against bungalows and illegal houses constructed in the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas.
Queries under the Right to Information Act revealed that there are 145 cases of construction wherein there are violations of the CRZ notification and that no action has been taken against them in Taluka Alibaug, District Raigad.
On December 6, 2018, the State government had informed the court that it will start demolishing the bungalow belonging to Mr. Modi. An affidavit was filed by Vijay Suryavanshi, the Collector of Raigad, which said, “Mr. Modi’s illegal bungalow was demolished on December 5 and demolition notices were issued to 58 other bungalows on December 4 that directed the owners to take action against them.”
Additional government pleader P.P. Kakade told the court that the district collector has initiated action. He said, “The process of demolition of Nirav Modi's bungalow has also begun. However, since it is a huge bungalow, a structural engineer's opinion is being taken. The demolition will have to be done by way of controlled blasts.”
On January 11, the Enforcement Directorate moved court urging that the agency be heard before any decision is taken as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached Mr. Modi’s properties, which also included the bungalow. The ED's counsel, Neha Bhide, told the court that the agency has handed over the property to the collector but it is yet to shift some movable articles and needs some time to do so. The court said they can approach the collector to sort it out.