Comedian Kapil Sharma's under-construction office at Juhu. (Photo: Debasish Dey)

When the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) responded to comedian Kapil Sharma’s tweet on Friday, which alleged that a civic official demanded a bribe from him in return for permissions to construct his office, it deviated from its own norms. The civic body usually initiates a probe into a citizen’s complaint only if he or she approaches it formally.

Mr Sharma’s revelation has, meanwhile, left several questions unanswered as the politicians stirred a massive controversy around his tweet. However, chief engineer of the vigilance department Manohar Pawar confirmed that Mr Sharma had not made any formal complaint to the BMC regarding a civic official’s demand for a bribe.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari raised questions regarding Mr Sharma’s tweet’s timing, and the BMC’s K (West) ward, which is in charge of issuing notices in cases of illegal constructions, has professed ignorance of what triggered the complaint now.

Assistant municipal commissioner of the K (West) ward, Parag Masurkar, said, “We issued Sharma a stop-work notice in July, and even demolished part of his illegal construction then. No correspondence between the BMC and Sharma took place since July.” Mr Masurkar said he was unaware if any verbal correspondence between a civic ward official and Mr Sharma took place between July and now, where the official could have demanded a bribe, instigating the complaint.

Despite several attempts to reach Mr Sharma to shed some light on the issue, he remained unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Ram Kadam approached the cyber police seeking investigation into the case, as the complaint had been made via Twitter. In response, deputy commissioner of police Ashok Dudhe, who is the spokesperson of the Mumbai police, said, “The cyber cell has received an application. As allegations are related to anti-corruption, the application will be forwarded to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for further enquiry.”

When contacted, ACB officials said they had not taken any action nor had they received a complaint.