NDMC lawyer’s murder: Hotelier, 2 contract killers among 7 arrested
19 May 2016 5:31 AM IST
Senior officials of the NDMC are also under scanner who were reportedly pressurising the advocate to settle the 21-year-prolonged legal battle related to tax clearance and lease terms worth Rs 140 crore.
MM Khan, the deceased, was recently assigned as Estate Officer in NDMC and the High Court had given him the power to give final orders in certain cases. The legal case of The Connaught Hotel was among the main cases that he was handling. A day after Khan was murdered; he had scheduled to pass final order on the hotel’s lease terms that allegedly did not go in the favour of the hotel.
The property on which the hotel is functioning was taken on lease for setting up a 2-star level youth
hostel but was put into commercial use, attracting strict action from the civic body.
“The owner of the hotel, identified as Ramesh Kakkar (45), had planned to eliminate Khan. He contacted his body guard — Ram Phool and discussed the matter. He contracted him for Rs 2 lakh and paid Rs 50,000 as advance. Ram Phool further contacted Israil with whom he used to work at Kakkar’s hotel in Greater Kailash as a bouncer. But the hotel was closed and Israil left the job while Ram became Kakkar’s bodyguard.”
“Israil further contacted his cousin brother Saleem who was aware of the topography of Jamia Nagar area as he was a recovery agent of a finance company in that area. Saleem contacted one Amir who was a local criminal of that area and Bilal and Anwar Omais were also involved in this plan through
Amir.
“A recee was done and on May 16, the assailants followed Khan’s car on their motorcycle after he left office and when the victim was about to reach his house, one of the assailants broke the glass window of the car and fired at the deceased and escaped,” said P Kamraj, Special Commissioner of Police, Law & Order (South Zone).
According to a source, Rs 50,000 were given as token money to Saleem and the remaining Rs 1.5 lakh was supposed to be given to the shooters. Police have recovered Rs 49,000 from their possession while the remaining Rs 1,000 were spent by them in a cocktail party.
Millennium Post had earlier published the details of the legal case of the hotel. After an 18-year-long legal battle, the hotel obtained a favourable verdict in 2013 from the trail court but thereafter, the NDMC had approached the High Court, to appeal a judgment of a district court allowing the hotel to remain on the premises even though it had failed to pay the necessary license fee.
It has also been learnt that 10 days before Khan was shot dead, NDMC Vice-Chairman Karan Singh Tanwar had written to LG Najeeb Jung demanding his replacement, alleging that his “illegal” and “biased” handling of a case was causing loss to the civic body.
In September last year, the High Court, in a 156-page judgment noted that the hotel had “instituted a frivolous suit” and had “misled the trial court” to get favourable orders to continue occupying the prime property and apart from imposing penalty the judge has directed the NDMC estate officer to expedite eviction proceedings against the hotel and decide the matter within six months. However, the case was extended for next three-months and on May 17, Khan, who was the Estate Officer, was supposed to give the order.
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