The complaint had mentioned there were illegal hoardings in various sectors of the Dwarka sub-city, including at traffic intersections and parks.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO

The Delhi police on Friday informed a court here that it has filed an FIR against “unknown persons” for the misuse of government funds in putting up “illegal” hoardings in Dwarka in 2019.

The FIR was filed after the court on March 11 directed the police to book the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former AAP MLA Gulab Singh Yadav and former BJP councillor Nitika Sharma for misusing public money. DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh told The Hindu that the FIR was lodged against “unknown persons” on March 26 under Section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act (DPDP), 2007.

Responding to the development, AAP said that it is awaiting a copy of the FIR and will accordingly take appropriate legal action.

‘Public nuisance, eyesore’

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Neha Mittal of Rouse Avenue Court had ordered for the FIR while hearing the plea filed by Delhi resident, Shiv Kumar Saxena, who alleged that he had made a police complaint in 2019 against the “accused persons” for placing billboards in various sectors of the Dwarka sub-city, including at traffic intersections and parks. Some of these hoardings bore the photographs of Mr. Kejriwal, the then CM, and Mr. Singh, then the MLA of Matial, while others had pictures of Prime Minister Narender Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Mr. Saxena said he was forced to approach the judiciary when the police failed to act on his complaint.

In September 2022, a magisterial court dismissed his plea for an FIR against the former CM and others. On January 21 this year, a sessions court directed the magistrate to hear the case afresh.

The court in its March 3 order had said that the seriousness of the offence punishable under Section 3 of DPDP Act, 2007 can be gauged from the fact that it is not only an eyesore and public nuisance thereby destroying the aesthetic sense of the city but is also hazardous and dangerous to the smooth flow of traffic by distracting traffic and poses a safety challenge to the pedestrians and vehicles. “Deaths caused by collapse of illegal hoardings are not new in India,” it added.