The court has ordered a "status quo" on the eviction drive in the area, which is tense after the communal clash during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday. The court will be hearing the matter tomorrow.
Even after the court's order came in, the bulldozers continued to raze shops and other structures. Civic officials said that they are yet to receive the order and will act accordingly once they get it.
This morning, nine bulldozers sent by the civic body rolled into the locality and started razing shops and other structures amid heavy police presence to prevent any law and order situation.
The anti-encroachment exercise was ordered after Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the mayor, asking him to identify illegal constructions by "rioters" and demolish them.
While the mayor termed it a "routine exercise", the timing of the order, especially since it came after the BJP's chief letter, prompted questions regarding political motives.
Ahead of the eviction drive, Special Commissioner of Police Dependra Pathak and other senior officers took stock of the area. The civic body had yesterday sought a force of at least 400 police personnel for the two-day anti-encroachment drive.
Police have been keeping vigil in Jahangirpuri since Saturday's communal clash that broke out when a Hanuman Jayanti procession that did not have permission took a route alongside a mosque.
Nine people, including eight policemen, were injured in the violence during which two groups threw stones at each other and shots were also fired.
25 people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence. Five of them have been charged under the National Security Act, which allows detention up to a year without any charge.
The police have said there is no evidence so far that the violence was planned. "So far, the probe does not suggest this (that it was planned). As of now it looks like it was all impromptu but now investigation is being done by the Crime Branch," Mr Pathak told NDTV.
New Delhi: Bulldozers continued to raze structures in Delhi's Jahangirpuri despite a Supreme Court order to halt the anti-encroachment drive in the area days after it witnessed communal clashes during a Hanuman Jayanti procession.
