The Ayodhya Development Authority on Thursday demolished a two-storey market complex owned by jailed Samajwadi Party leader Moin Khan.

He has been in judicial custody since July 20, along with his associate Raju Khan, on charges of gangraping a 14-year-old after calling her at his bakery for a job three months ago.

Moin’s bakery in Purakalandar, 12km from Ayodhya town, was bulldozed by the Uttar Pradesh government on August 3 because it was built on a government pond.

The ADA officers told reporters that the “Khan Complex”, which had 67 shops and offices, in Purakalandar was built after filling up a government pond illegally.

Moin is the president of the Bhadarsa Nagar unit of the SP. The party claimed that the government was illegally bringing down Moin’s complex.

“His bakery, which was razed earlier, was constructed on a government pond. One-third of his market complex, barely 100mt from his bakery, was built after encroaching upon a government pond and gram sabha land. However, we bulldozed the entire building on Thursday because its map was not approved by the authority,” said ADA secretary Satyendra Singh.

Ashok Kumar Saini, the sub-divisional magistrate who led the demolition team to the site, said: “We had served notices to the family of the complex owner. Besides shops and offices, there was a bank in the building. We had served notices to them two weeks ago and asked them to vacate.”

It took a bulldozer about four hours to bring down the building spread over 5,000sqft.

A family member of Moin told local reporters: “We have moved court against the demolition but our case has not yet been admitted because of holidays and a lawyers’ strike. The government was in a rush to demolish it instead of allowing us to prove our point.”

The family members of the minor girl came to know about the incident when she became pregnant two months ago. The girl’s mother quoted her daughter as saying that Moin and Raju had gang-raped her and made videos to blackmail her.

The investigation was expedited in mid-July when chief minister Yogi Adityanath came to know of the case. He accused the SP, the main Opposition in Uttar Pradesh, of protecting the rapists and asked the police and local administration to take the harshest action against Moin.