By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 29 Aug: Dehradun’s controversial club WIC was finally sealed by the authorities on Saturday. The Club is managed by Sachin Upadhyay and his wife Nazia Yousuf. It may be recalled that Sachin is the younger brother of former state president of Congress Kishore Upadhyay.
It may further be recalled that the property in question was also sealed a few years ago by the Mussoorie Dehra Development Authority (MDDA), but due to his high reach and influence, Sachin Upadhyay had himself broken the seal and had started operating club activities on his own. Despite this, it is a matter of surprise that no action was taken against Sachin Upadhyay and Nazia by the authorities. It is also noteworthy that members of the Club include many powerful bureaucrats and police officers, influential politicians and businessmen, and despite the fact that the club was allegedly being run illegally, none of them had reported the matter to the departments concerned.
According to the official sources, the club property was sealed on account of having been constructed illegally and this was the chief reason behind sealing off the property. It is alleged that the entire building had been constructed without the map approvals by the MDDA. Apart from this, there are also allegations of encroachment of government property. It is noteworthy that all the nullahs in the city are considered property of the Municipal Corporation. It is alleged that a large part of a nullah was encroached by Sachin and was being used for illegal construction and parking. Not only this, Sachin Upadhyay and his wife Nazia are also facing charges of fraud and embezzlement and some cases with such allegations are still pending in the courts. Sachin Upadhyay is also facing a case of cheating filed by his former partner Mukesh Joshi. Joshi has alleged that Sachin had sold a property belonging to Joshi by forging the documents. The land on which the club is built is also said to be leased and it is alleged that Sachin is also having a dispute with the property owner in respect of the lease. The restaurant and the club, built by Sachin Upadhyay at 111/2 Rajpur Road Dehradun is in the name of SM Hospitality, and the property has been sealed on the orders of MDDA Vice Chairman Ranveer Singh Chauhan. Not only this, it is also being alleged that land on which the club was operating, has its land use as residential and not commercial. Yet how the club was allowed so openly to operate for years remains a mystery. It remains to be seen how long the Club remains sealed or whether it will again be allowed to break the seal illegally and start club activities.
