Trouble mounts for comedian Kapil Sharma, BMC official files a case over illegal construction

Mumbai: In more trouble for standup comedian Kapil Sharma, who has kicked up a row through his bribe tweet, Oshiwara Police here on Monday registered an FIR against him for alleged unauthorised construction at his flat in suburban Goregaon. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) sub-engineer Abhay Jagtap had lodged a complaint at Oshiwara police station in this regard.A complaint was also filed against actor Irrfan Khan. In the complaint, Jagtap had alleged that Sharma, who owns a flat in DLH Enclave on New Link Road in Goregaon, had violated norms and carried out illegal construction in the flat, a senior police official said. Kapil lives on a 9th floor flat and Irrfan Khan stays on 5th floor apartment of DHL Enclave in posh Oshiwara area on New Link Road, said Dudhe. Based on the complaint, Sharma was booked under section 53(7) of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP) 1966, the police official said. Besides Sharma's flat, the municipal body has found violations in 15 other flats in the building and has already served notices to their owners. Sharma had kicked up a controversy last week by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs five lakh by an official of BMC which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms in his Versova office building and his apartment in suburban Goregaon. Earlier in the day, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS filed a complaint against the artist for keeping mum on his allegation that civic officials had demanded money from him, and violation of building norms by him. MNS group leader in BMC, Sandeep Deshpande, filed the complaint against Sharma at Versova police station. He demanded that the complaint be turned into an FIR and an investigation be ordered into the matter. The complaint, filed by Deshpande's lawyer, mentions that since BMC officials are public servants under section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, and if they have demanded bribe, it amounts to an offence under section 39 of CrPC. Also, it is a duty of a person to lodge a complaint against that public servant with the concerned authority, and if he fails to perform his duties as per section 176, it amounts to an offence, the complaint further said. "In this case, Sharma did not act as a responsible citizen and failed to live up to his duty. Therefore, I have demanded the police officials to go into the merits of my complaint, convert it into an FIR and call him for further investigation," Deshpande said.