Kapil vs BMC: New information suggests comic flouted rules to construct office

Hours after Kapil Sharma lashed out against an officer from Mumbai’s civic body for demanding bribe to approve the construction work of his office, it seems the move has backfired, with new information suggesting that the comedian flouted rules right from the beginning.

Now a BMC official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Kapil Sharma flouted rules by encroaching land for building his office. Then he constructed his office in a residential area and added one floor which was not sanctioned by the BMC. We had served him a notice last month to vacate the office and demolish the extra floor. Another follow-up notice was sent just 3 days ago.”

When asked if the concerned official had asked the bribe to make the notice go away, the BMC official refused to comment.

The series of events were triggered after Sharma took to his microblogging account today morning to share his frustration over paying a bribe of Rs 5 lakh to the (BMC), despite being a tax-paying citizen.

He also tagged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his tweet, which read, “I am paying 15 cr income tax from last 5 year n still i have to pay 5 lakhs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi”

Sharma’s tweet quickly went viral, with almost 8,000 people re-tweeting it within a few hours. The comedian has over 62 lakh followers on his microblogging account.

While the Sena-ruled BMC has faced many corruption related charges over the years, the allegations have always been made by a common man.

Later, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis took cognisance of the matter and tweeted to Sharma, “Kapilbhai pls provide all info. Have directed MC,BMC to take strictest action. We will not spare the culprit.@KapilSharmaK9 @narendramodi”

Following which, the civic body reportedly asked the comedian to make a formal complaint and name the officer who demanded bribe from him. The BMC vigilance chief engineer Manohar Pawar also issued a statement saying that the civic body takes a serious view of the corruption. He also requested the actor to disclose the name of person to enable the civic body to take strict action of the matter.

While the investigation into the matter continues, opposition parties like Congress have openly come out and lent support to Sharma.

Update: After the incident, a copy of the notice served to Kapil Sharma by BMC made its way to social media. Meanwhile, the comedian has responded to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Yuva Sena President Aditya Thackeray’s personal messages and said that he would want to meet and discuss the matter with them.