Nerul police seek information of Navi Mumbai civic officers responsible for demolition drive that killed one slum dweller

Nerul police seek info of Navi Mumbai civic officers responsible for demolition drive that killed one resident; on Oct 25, a NMMC officer and a JCB driver were booked after a slum dweller was killed during a demolition drive

The Nerul police have written to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) seeking information about the officers responsible for the demolition drive in Nerul during which a hutment dweller was killed.

Nerul police have written to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation seeking information of civic officers responsible for demolition drive on Oct 25 that killed one slum dweller. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT FILE PHOTO)

On October 25, a NMMC officer and a JCB driver were booked after a slum dweller, identified as Bhimrao Kisan Gajbhare (38), was killed during a demolition drive in Sector 10 of Nerul.

A neighbour of the deceased registered a case alleging that the civic staff allegedly did not check whether there was any occupant inside the hutment before mowing it down.

“We registered the case on the same day and the autopsy report confirmed that Gajbhare died of external injuries after being mowed down by the JCB. We arrested the JCB driver and the contractor who were then released on bail. The name of the officer from NMMC who was responsible for supervising the demolition is not yet known and we have written to the corporation to decide on the responsibility,” senior police inspector Shyam Shinde from Nerul police station said.