The Delhi government’s vigilance department on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to 2007 batch IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai for allegedly demolishing a monument dating back to the 15th century for building a new government accommodation in its place to move in as the then CEO of the DJB.
The monument located in South East Delhi’s Jal Vihar near Lajpat Nagar finds a mention in the ASI’s List of Muhammadan and Hindu monuments prepared in the 20th century and is identified as Mahal, built during the Sayyid rule in Delhi.
The vigilance notice says that following a visit in January 2021, the department of archaeology wrote to the DJB, seeking possession of the monument and a gateway for conservation. When the department returned to the site In January this year, it found that the monument had vanished.