Allahabad high court on Friday directed the deputy inspector general of Varanasi to explain the circumstances under which her house was grabbed and issued a notice pertaining to contempt on the city's deputy superintendent of police.

Taking cognisance of a writ by Shakti Kumari Gupta, a division bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Bharti Sapru ordered the Varanasi range deputy inspector-general of police to file a 'personal affidavit indicating there in, as to under what circumstances' the house was grabbed.

The DIG was asked to file another affidavit explaining why the district administration, including the police, 'did not register appropriate criminal proceedings against the tresspasser Dabbu Yadav for illegally occupying the house' in Laxmanpura locality of the city.

The court on Wednesday directed the Varanasi chief judicial magistrate to ensure the presence of Dabbu Yadav, who failed to appear before the court in spite of receiving the summons, during the next hearing on Nov 10.

The bench came down heavily on the 'act and conduct' of Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Shukla, issuing a notice asking why proceedings 'for having attempted to commit a criminal contempt' should not be started against him for filing a 'misleading affidavit and making irresponsible statements in this court'.

The petition filed by counsel Rupak Chaubey had accused the district administration, including police officials, of being 'silent spectators' of the house-grabbing incident.