The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party President Manoj Tiwari to file an affidavit within a week and explain his conduct after he allegedly broke the lock of a house sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation in an unauthorised colony in Delhi, reported PTI.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued him a contempt notice after taking cognisance of a report submitted by a monitoring committee.

Tiwari will next appear before the court on October 3.

The Delhi Police on September 18 filed a First Information Report against Tiwari on charges of disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant and for allegedly violating provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. Tiwari, who broke open the seal two days earlier, had asked why authorities had closed only one house in the lane and accused them of sealing properties according to their “whims and fancies”.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the sealing and demolition of unauthorised constructions in Delhi would continue.

A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta on Tuesday asked Tiwari to explain his comments that the authorities were doing nothing to seal thousand of illegal structures that deserved to be sealed. “You give us a list of those places, we’ll make you the sealing officer,” said Justice Lokur.

The bench said that being an MP did not give Tiwari the liberty to take law in his hands.

Tiwari did not break a seal and as an MP has never disrupted the sealing process, said senior lawyer Vikas Singh, appearing on behalf of Tiwari. Singh said that he would need time to file a detailed reply.