The owner of a four-star hotel in the city and six others were arrested today in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old estate officer of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), a day before he was scheduled to pass the final order in a case related to the hotel's lease.
The deceased, Mohammed Moin Khan, was a lawyer and an assistant legal advisor with the NDMC. The concerned hotel 'The Connaught' was functioning on a property leased by the civic body.
NDMC had sealed the property last year after the hotel authorities failed to abide by the eviction order following expiry of the lease. The other party had then taken the matter to the court, police said.
On the direction of the High Court, Khan was made the Estate Officer and he was to pass the final order in the lease matter on May 17.
"Apprehending an unfavourable order, which would have resulted in huge monetary loss and eviction from the property, the hotel owner, Ramesh Kakkar, hatched the conspiracy to eliminate Khan, who was known to be straight and fair in his job," Special Commissioner of Police (Law & Order/South) P Kamaraj said.
Khan's family claimed that there was tremendous pressure on Khan from his seniors to waive the penalty of around Rs 140 crore imposed on the hotel for violation of license term, a matter which is still being probed by the police.
To execute the plan, Kakkar (48) contacted Ram Phool (46), his body guard, and one Israil (31). Both of them were bouncers at Kakkar's nightclub in Greater Kailash area, which closed down around five years ago.
The contract for killing was fixed at Rs 2 lakh, of which Rs 50,000 was paid in advance. Soon, others identified as Saleem Khan, Amar Alvi, Anwar Omais and Bilal were roped in.
While six of the accused were detained last night and in the wee hours today, and later arrested, the seventh (Bilal), who was absconding, was nabbed this evening, police said.
On May 16 evening, Phool and Israil followed Khan's car after he left his office and when he was about to reach home in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar, two motorcycle-borne youths (Anwar and Bilal) intercepted his car, broke open the window and shot him from point-blank range.
Saleem, who is a recovery agent by profession, and Amar, a known bad character in the locality, allegedly helped with the logistics and were also monitoring the execution of the plan.
Police said they are investigating the matter from all angles and some NDMC officials are likely to be questioned.
Police have also come across allegations that the hotel owner had sent his "agents" to bribe the slain official but there was no evidence as yet to substantiate it.
During investigation, it emerged that the property on which hotel The Connaught is functioning was taken on lease for setting up a 2-star youth hostel but the plan was changed and a hotel came up instead, attracting action from the civic body.
An official privy to the investigation said, a "liaison agent" had approached Kakkar earlier this year and claimed that he could settle the matter at less than one-third the amount imposed as penalty.
The agent had claimed before Kakkar that he had done a settlement in Chanakyapuri before. When the agent failed to persuade Khan and, with the final date for the order approaching fast, Kakkar decided to eliminate the estate officer.
The plan was meticulously given shape in 10 days and May 16 was chosen as the day to go for the kill. The gang conducted multiple recce in the area and tracked Khan's movements for days before shooting him.
Police sources said, it is also being probed whether the assailants were instructed to kill Khan or to shoot him in such a way which would not lead to his death.
Police have questioned Khan's colleagues, who claimed the deceased was an honest officer, who was straight and fair in his dealings. Police, however, said they were told that Khan was once suspended by NDMC over 11 years ago on charges of misconduct but it had nothing to do with this case.
The first clue in the case turned out to be a collection of clips obtained from CCTV cameras in the area, in which the motorbike and the duo were spotted, an official said.
But police could only join the dots when through local intelligence, they came to know about Bilal's involvement and, later, Bilal was identified as one of the assailants.
Things got clearer when the police zeroed in on Kakkar and his call detail records revealed that he was constantly in touch with his security officer Ram Phool. And Phool kept calling the contract killers one after the other in turn on the evening of May 16, the official said.
Khan's relatives had told police that he had been receiving calls from unknown people during odd hours of the day but did not mention about threats as such. His call details were analysed by the investigators.
"My father was killed because he was an honest man and refused to take any money. It is not only about the money, we want justice. The only thing we want to make sure that the investigation goes in the right direction," Khan's daughter said today.
