The Delhi Police on Monday registered a first information report against Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan and his supporters for allegedly obstructing the demolition drive in Shaheen Bagh, PTI reported.

The FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Notably, the complaint by the civic body came hours after the BJP’s Delhi unit chief Adesh Gupta wrote a letter to the South Delhi mayor asking him to do so.

“Amanatullah Khan MLA [Okhla] along with his supporters present did not allow the field staff of the SDMC zone to remove the encroachment,” the complaint said, according to PTI. “In view of the above, you are requested to take appropriate legal action against Amanatullah Khan and his supporters for interfering in discharge of official duties by public servant.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police Esha Pandey said that the FIR was registered against Khan and his supporters under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

A massive protest had erupted in the national capital’s Shaheen Bagh area on Monday ahead of a demolition drive planned by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The Muslim-dominated neighbourhood was among the sites in Delhi where protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act were held in 2019 and 2020.

Protestors shouted slogans against the civic body and the central government, demanding to stop the demolition drive. Many of them sat on roads to stop the bulldozers. The exercise was soon halted amid the protest.

Khan, who was also part of the protest, had said that there are no illegal structures in the area. “These are all legal shops,” he told reporters. “Whatever small structures or kiosks were there in the market have already been removed. The MCD is only trying to show their strength with this…”

The demolition drive is part of a month-long exercise announced by South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Mukesh Suryan on April 25. The mayor, however, does not have the power to order such action. A similar exercise was conducted in the Tughlakabad area on May 4.