MYSORE: Though the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) intervened in the nick of time and stopped the demolition of the house of writer R K Narayan on Monday, the damage had already been done. Eyewitnesses said that in an early morning drive, labourers hired by a contractor razed the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms of the two-storey bungalow, besides breaking open patches of the roof.

When the TOI photographer went to the house, the demolition was abruptly stopped. "The labourers got into two autorickshaws and fled the spot when I started taking pictures," he said.

MCC commissioner KS Rayakar said: "I have posted our staff at the spot to keep a watch. We won't allow it to be demolished. We'll book a case against the contractor if he does not stop this project."

Contractor Devaraje Gowda said the owner of the building, Narayan's daughter Bhuvaneshwari had decided to build a new building on that spot and not an apartment complex as reported in a section of the media. "She has not sold the building. She has only worked out a plan to demolish the old building and construct a new one for herself," he said.