Ex-Delhi Mayor Moves SC Over Midnight Raid by UP Police

Former Delhi Mayor Farhad Suri has moved the Supreme Court seeking the registration of an FIR against police officers who conducted an alleged midnight search at his Nizamuddin East residence in the national capital. The search, reportedly aimed at locating independent journalist Abhishek Upadhyay, has been described by Mr. Suri as high-handed and unauthorised.

According to the plea, filed through advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi, a large contingent of Ghaziabad police arrived at Mr. Suri's residential colony in a convoy of 15 to 16 vehicles around 12:45 a.m. on the intervening night of August 22-23. The petition alleges that the operation was conducted in an intimidating manner, with some personnel in plain clothes and no search warrant produced when requested.

The police team reportedly told Mr. Suri they were looking for an accused in a double-murder case at Indirapuram. However, when Mr. Suri contacted the local SHO at Hazrat Nizamuddin, he was informed that the local police had only been apprised of the UP team's visit to the railway station, not of any specific premises to be searched.

Mr. Suri later learned that the police action was purportedly linked to FIR No. 678/2026 registered at Police Station Indirapuram, concerning Mr. Upadhyay, who already enjoys interim protection from the Supreme Court against coercive action in a separate road-rage case.

The petition argues that the scale and manner of the operation, coupled with the apparent disregard for safeguards governing inter-state police action, constitute a concerted abuse of police authority that threatens the petitioner's constitutional rights.

Mr. Suri has also sought the preservation of CCTV footage, call detail records, and vehicle registration details. He has urged the Supreme Court to lay down guidelines to prevent the recurrence of such arbitrary exercise of police power by one state within another's jurisdiction.