The 108-feet Hanuman statue at Karol Bagh (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: Pointing out that no spirituality can be attached to criminal activities, Delhi high court on Monday asked CBI to identify those who allowed a 108ft Hanuman statue to come up on a pavement in Karol Bagh .

Terming it “unfortunate and painful”, HC said the probe agency must make every effort to investigate how the statue came to be built on public land. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also noted that if prosecution is launched against any person, the court concerned shall ensure that the matter is dealt with expeditiously and the guilty are brought to book.

HC’s remarks came after it found that none of the land owning agencies was willing to take a stand or say the land belongs to them. The bench said it was “painful” that this kind of encroachment has been allowed on a pavement on a main road and that every person party to this “fraud” needs to be dealt with a heavy hand.

“No spirituality can be attached to criminal activities,” HC observed and directed CBI to file a monthly status report in the matter. It also appointed senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and advocate Gautam Narayan as amicus curiae in the matter, while ordering DDA to file a status report.

CBI had earlier claimed that DDA and North Delhi Municipal Corporation were not cooperating with its enquiry as to how the statue and a private two-wheeler dealership located nearby, encroached upon public land.

However, DDA and the civic body rejected CBI’s claim. Both tried to distance themselves from the land in question after they were directed by HC to give a list of officials who were posted in the area when the famous statue was being built illegally on public land.

The north civic body had earlier claimed that the site in question did not come under its jurisdiction and that the New Delhi Municipal Council was responsible for the area.

HC had, at first, ordered a police probe into the encroachment after a committee appointed by it in May 2017, to look into illegal constructions all over Delhi, had pointed to encroachments of upto 1,170 square yards on DDA land which forms part of the Southern Ridge.

