Murder of an honest NDMC officer, MM Khan, has taken a new twist after it emerged that the civic body’s vice-chairman Karan Singh Tanwar had written to LG Najeeb Jung asking for his transfer.
The revelation came on the day it was reported that Ramesh Kakkar, the owner of The Connaught hotel, had hired allegedly hired hitmen to kill NDMC legal adviser Khan.
Kakkar had even“offered a bribe of Rs 3 crore” to the lawyer and even approached his relatives to pressure him, sources close to the investigation were reported as saying.
Kakkar owed more than Rs 140 crore of dues to the NDMC in licensing fees and the hotelier allegedly made several attempts to “influence” Khan by approaching his senior officers and even his relatives in Mumbai, but the honest officer did not succumb to pressure to take the money.
A desperate Kakkar then sent his subordinates to NDMC office seeking an audience with the BJP leader Tanwar.
This then prompted Tanwar to write to LG demanding the honest officer’s transfer.
By his own admission Tanwar said that he had written to LG demanding Khan’s transfer without conducting any internal probe.
“Without conducting any internal inquiry and discussing the matter with Khan, I had written to L-G, asking him to remove this official and appoint another only on the basis of their verbal complaint,” he was quoted by Indian Express.
NDMC member Surender Singh confirmed that Khan had approached him saying that he was being pressurised to let Connaught Hotel owners off the hook.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday launched attack against the BJP on its alleged involvement in rampant corruption that led to the murder of an honest officer.
AAP’s Dilip Pandey said that Khan’s honesty could be determined from the fact that he did not even money to pay for his children’s good education.
“Whose interests was Tanwar trying to protect. As NDMC vice chairman, should he not have been protecting an honest officer, who was protecting the interests of the NDMC? Why did he write to LG demanding the transfer of an honest officer? What was the need? What’s his connection with the Hotel Connaught? These are the questions, Tanwar must answer.”
Pandey said that his party will soon meet Delhi Police Commissioner and the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, demanding the arrest of Tanwar and his removal from the saffron party.
Delhi police on Wednesday had detained six people, including Kakkar, in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old honest officer.