FIR against owners of Raj Kapoor’s former haveli

Pakistani authorities have lodged an FIR against the new owners of legendary actor-director Raj Kapoor’s historic family haveli here for demolishing the building which is a national heritage site.

The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums on Sunday lodged the FIR at Khan Raziq police station against the owners of nearly century-old haveli situated at Dhaki Munawar Shah of the walled city.

New owners of the existing building had pulled down its first storey for construction of a commercial plaza on it. The doors and window panes on the second and third floors were also removed last week. On Saturday, the archives department obta-ined stay from a local court to save the demolition of the historic “haveli”. Also, Peshawar Museum in-charge Nawazuddin filed a case against homeowners Israr, Ali Qadir and Hassan Qadir for violating the K-P Antiquities Act 1997 under which more than 70 years old buildings cannot be changed without the consent of the government as well as the archaeology department. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has declared the houses of Peshawar-born Bollywood actors Kapoor and Dilip Kumar as heritage to protect and preserve them.