The CBI on Monday arrested the Capital’s alleged multi-crore land scam kingpin Ashok Malhotra from a news channel’s studio even as the Congress leadership grappled with the factional feud in the DPCC as AICC chief Sonia Gandhi met some of Chief Minister Sheila Dixit’s known detractors on Monday.

A CBI team arrested Malhotra from outside the studios of Zee News in Noida on the outskirts of the Capital, where he had arrived from Agra early in the morning to say on a live news broadcast that he  was facing threat to his life from the investigating agency.

While Malhotra, who admitted to owning 17 cars and six motor cycles as against the reported 52 luxury cars, was immediately taken to the CBI headquarters for questioning, CBI Director Vijay Shanker said the investigation in the scam would be taken to its logical conclusion.

Shanker said the probe was in the initial stages and he would be able to give details only after examination of voluminous documents was completed, but added, “No one whatsoever position he or she holds, will be spared if found involved in the scam.”

Malhotra denied any involvement in the scam.