10 more names in DDA scam

NEW DELHI: The interrogation ofretired DDA employee ML Gautam in the housing scam is opening a can of wormswith the names of more employees of the Authority coming to light. Gautam, thealleged mastermind ofthe scam, revealed the names of about 10 more people whoaided in manipulating the allotments. "As part of our investigations, we arelooking at former DDA employees along with other suspects,'' said a policeofficer.The EOW on Saturday said that they have detained one AlokKumar, who reportedly posed as a chartered accountant in Jhunjhunu and issuspected to have got around 60 fake PAN cards made between July and Septemberto be used in the DDA allotment scam. Kumar is an intermediate-level CA. "Wehave questioned the courier service operators who delivered the PAN cards and asit turns out, all the PAN cards were processed through Alok's office. So, we arequestioning him about his involvement,'' said a senior EOWofficial.Another CA's name has also cropped up during interrogation.Manish Kumar, a CA from Chandigarh, who was hired by a private bank to verifythe loan applications, is also being questioned.The focus of probehas also shifted to Bulandshahar from where Gautam is reported to have filedmost of his 1200 applications in the SC category. The team which was sent toBulandshahar is now looking for an applicant like Raghubir Singh from Jhunjhunuwho had signed on the application papers, but had not filed any loan papers orhad a PAN card. "We are probing PAN cards made in the SC/ST category during thatperiod to find out which of them were doctored,'' said an EOW official. TheDelhi Police also raided some places in Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh based onthe tip-offs and are reportedly now looking out for a person named Vijay who maybe involved in the city.The Delhi Police have so far arrested fourpeople. The police raided the office and home of Raju Ram, a property dealer andanother accused in the case from Dwarka. His sources of income are beingverified now and his questioning has also revealed two new names. Prime accused,LN Meena, was also brought back to the city from Jhunjhunu as his police remandends on Sunday. Police had seized a number of documents, includingdetails of 1,200 applications and power of attorneys from Gautam's residence.Sources said Gautam had allegedly procured power of attorneys from successfulallottees in the name of his relatives, including his own son. The CDscontaining the details of over 5.67 lakh applicants and the software used thedraw are also under the scanner. The forensic reports of the same are expectedby next week.