Uttarakhand government demolished the house of a journalist named Ashok Pandey citing illegal construction. Pandey who did a sting operation on the Chief Minister's former personal secretary Mohammad Shahid alleges that he is being victimised for exposing corruption. He now plans to file a Public Interest Litigation in the Uttarakhand High Court. In what can be called as a very unusual municipal crackdown, the Uttarakhand government on Wednesday, August 5, pulled down some parts of the house of a journalist, Ashok Pandey, who had done a sting operation on Chief Minister's personal aide.

Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority (MMDA) carried out the demolition of some parts of the house as it did not 'confirm' to the government approved map. MDDA secretary PC Dumka said that a notice was sent to the owner way back in 2012 before the demolition exercised was carried out. The notice also said that the construction area at the site was twice than what had been shown in the building plan map.

Some portions of the house being demolished | Source: Amar Ujala

The journalist categorically expressed that he is being victimised for exposing corruption of senior government officials. "I fear for my life. If anything happens to me or my family, it'll be the sole responsibility of CM Harish Rawat. I only did my job as journalist to expose the corruption," he told told the Times of India.

Pandey also alleged that there were thousands of buildings with structural violations in the state capital but he was being singled out because of the sting operation. "It has been more than a year that my file for compounding (a provision where minimal structural changes can be made permanent after paying a penalty) is pending with the MDDA," he said as reported in the Times of India.