Hotel owner, 5 others held for NDMC lawyer's murder

Four-star hotel was on lease from municipal council

Connaught Hotel owner and five others were arrested on Wednesday for the murder of a New Delhi Municipal Council lawyer in south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar.

The four-star hotel was on lease from NDMC and an eviction case was pending before estate officer Mohammad Moin Khan.

The final hearing of the case was scheduled on Tuesday. Apprehending an unfavourable order resulting in loss and eviction from the property in Connaught Place, hotel owner Ramesh Kakkar gave out a Rs 2 lakh contract to kill 58-year old Khan.

Apart from the 47-year-old hotelier, a resident of south Delhi’s Safdarjung Development Area, the arrested include his personal security officer (PSO) and a group of contract killers.

Khan, a resident of Jamia Nagar, was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle when he was driving home on Monday.

A probe has revealed that Kakkar was allegedly pressurising Khan to waive the penalty of over Rs 100 crore on his hotel.

Khan was offered a bribe of Rs 4 crore and had also received several threat calls over the past few days.

Kakkar’s accomplices have been identified as his personal security officer Ram Phool, 46, Israel, 31, Saleem Khan, 29, Amir Alvi, 24, and Anwar Omais, 21.

“Kakkar had made a deal of Rs 2 lakh with Ram Phool to execute Khan’s murder. He gave Rs 50,000 as advance money. Rest of the contract money was to be paid after the murder,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Mandeep Singh Randhawa.

During investigation, police learnt that Khan was involved in the Connaught Hotel matter. On the direction of Delhi High Court, Khan had to pass a final order on the case on Tuesday.

“We were informed that Kakkar had tasked somebody to murder Khan before the final hearing date,” Randhawa added.

Kakkar also owned a hotel in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash but it was closed about 4-5 years ago.

At that time, Ram Phool and Israel used to work as bouncers with Kakkar. When the hotel closed, Israel left the job and Ram Phool started working as Kakkar’s PSO.

It was Ram Phool who contacted Israel to kill Khan. “Israel contacted his cousin Saleem, a recovery agent with a finance company in Jamia Nagar. Saleem contacted local criminal Amir. Bilal and Anwar were also involved in the plan through Amir,” Randhawa said.

As per the plan, Amir, Bilal and Anwar carried out a recce of Khan’s house and also trailed him for some days. On Monday evening, they followed Khan’s car on their motorcycle. Khan was attacked when he reached near his house.