East Delhi house owner has 25 cases against him: Delhi police

An attempt to murder case, 11 cases of adulteration and four cases of cheating are among the 25 cases registered against Amritpal Singh, the owner of the building, who was arrested here last night.

"It came to the notice that the accused is a seasoned criminal and has past history of criminal involvements including adulteration of building materials and cement. He has more than 25 criminal cases against him," I B Rani, Addditional DCP (East), said.

Soon after the building collapse on Monday night, Singh had fled from his house in Lalita Park area with his family and hid himself at his sister-in-law's residence in Geeta Colony.

"Singh could not be traced at his house and most of his relatives were not available at their residences. The task become more difficult as Singh stopped contacting his friends and relatives," said Rani.

However, last evening based on an input police managed to track Singh to Geeta Colony. "He was planning to leave Delhi for an undisclosed destination. We managed to catch him almost at the last minute," a senior police official said.

Singh told police that he was born in Jalandhar in Punjab in 1956 and came to Muradabad in 1966. Seven years later, his family came to Delhi and purchased a house in Ramesh Park.
Initially, his family opened a grocery shop in the same house and allegedly started selling illicit liquor from that grocery shop and was arrested many times.

Later, he also allegedly started selling adulterated cement bags in Delhi and NCR. Eleven cases under Essential Commodities Act were also registered against him.