Comedian Kapil Sharma’s tweet to the Prime Minister over allegedly being asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by a civic official to build his office earned a response from the state’s chief minister and the Mumbai civic body.
The city’s civic body promised to take action against the errant official and asked him to lodge an official complaint by giving them the name of the official:
But then, soon after emerged allegations that the civic body had reportedly warned the comedian against carrying out an illegal construction while developing his office:
A News24 report quoted BMC sources as saying that the civic body had issued a notice to him over allegedly carrying out an illegal construction. The report says the BMC officials accused Sharma of encroaching on 15 feet of land and cutting mangroves in violation of law.
The report also said that the comedian had constructed an illegal floor and that the construction had continued on the structure despite the civic body telling him to stop work. The civic body then carried out demolitions in August to remove the illegal structures, the report said.
However, it isn’t clear if the structure was demolished, why a civic official was seeking a bribe from the comedian as Sharma has alleged. It isn’t clear if the comedian was seeking permission to rebuild the demolished structure and was asked to pay a bribe in order to do so.
Sharma has not responded to the allegations that an illegal structure was demolished in his office or to the civic body’s request for the identity of the officials who had allegedly sought a bribe from him.