AIIMS officer accuses Somnath Bharti of trying to encroach on govt land

The chief security officer of AIIMS accused AAP MLA and former law minister Somnath Bharti of trying to encroach government land and disrupting peace in the hospital.

In his complaint, based on which an FIRwas registered against Bharti, the officer said the MLA and about 300 of his supporters beat up security personnel who had asked them to leave hospital premises.

According to the complaint, a copy of which is with HT, the officer alleged that Bharti insisted that the area was ‘public property’ and a fence must be demolished.

The MLA failed to produce any order from a competent authority to stall the work on the fence and went ahead with the demolition forcefully.

“At around 9:45am, Somnath Bharti along with 300 of his supporters assembled in Gautam Nagar near Nallah Road and started breaking the fence on the boundary wall with the help of a JCB machine in order to provide unauthorised people access AIIMS. They were claiming that the road belonged to the public,” he said.

“They were requested to produce the orders of the competent authority in this regard, but they could not. They were also not accompanied by any government official. They damaged the fence on the boundary wall and when I objected to it, they started shouting at me and misbehaving with the security personnel,” he said in the complaint.

In his defence, Bharti posted a letter from the chief engineer (south), PWD, to the AIIMS director stating that the road leading to the Gautam Nagar nullah was a public property and had to be opened for general public use.

AIIMS has been using the area as a parking space for its dental college.

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Bharti stated that the PWD had already given permission to open the area as AIIMS never responded to their notice. According to the letter — uploaded on Twitter by Bharti — the engineer requested the director of AIIMS to come for a meeting but no representative was ever sent for the meeting. “Minutes of the meeting were also sent, but there was no response from AIIMS. Accordingly it is presumed that it has no objection to the proposal of opening the road for public,” the letter read.

AIIMS is lying. They have been denying legitimate access to Gautam Nagar RESIDENTS - AIIMS even refused to PWD meetings...1/n

— Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) September 11, 2016

Wherever common man will be troubled I will go. D allegation that residents dismantled the wall is a blatant lie. I will fight in court.2/n

— Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) September 11, 2016

AIIMS hd begged 4 a meeting and residents and I had agreed. Meeting ws scheduled 2 take place on 14.09.2016 2 be attended by officers..3/n

— Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) September 11, 2016

The security officer also alleged that some of his men also sustained minor injuries while protecting the government land.

“....They used abusive language, disrupted the peace in the hospital and caused disturbance to the patients and employees of AIIMS. They adopted unlawful ways to encroach the government land. Strict action needs to be taken against the persons for an attempt to assault government servants on duty and disrupting peace in the hospital,” the complaint read.

The FIRhas been registered under sections of rioting, damaging public property and obstructing a public servant from discharging his duty.

An investigating officer said that six guards, who were injured in the encroachment drive, will give their statements before a magistrate, which is admissible as evidence in court.