7 chargesheeted in NDMC officer’s murder case

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Thursday filed a 46-page chargesheet in the murder case of NDMC estate officer MM Khan naming Ramesh Kakkar, the owner of The Connaught hotel, two contract killers and four facilitators as the accused.
The chargesheet filed in a trial court says that the lawyer was killed by two bikers on May 16 because he had refused to accept bribe to renew the luxury hotel’s contract.Khan (57) was to pass the final lease order on May 17. Kakkar planned the murder presuming that Khan would pass an unfavourable order that would lead to eviction from the property.
The court document gives details of how Kakkar planned the murder along with the others relying on their call records. Police said they were constantly in touch a few days before and on the day of incident.
Kakkar’s PSO Ramphool is also among the accused. Sources said he was the one who contacted a criminal, Izrael, for the murder. Izrael then roped in his cousin Saleem Khan and Amir, who handed over the job to Mohammad Bilal and Anwar Omaish of Jamia Nagar.
While Izrael, Saleem and Amir arranged for the murder weapon and recced the area, Omaish and Bilal shot Khan, the chargesheet states. CCTV cameras recorded Anwar shooting Khan and Bilal riding the bike.
“The hotelier had struck a deal of Rs 2 lakh with Ram Phool and given Rs 50,000 as advance. The rest of the contract money was to be paid after the murder. The contract money of Rs 49,000 was recovered from the accused,” sources said.
The special public prosecutor in the case, Saleem Ahmad, said that Metropolitan Magistrate Sheetal Chaudhary took cognisance of the chargesheet and the matter will now be heard on August 16. The accused have been chargesheeted under IPC sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention).
Sources said that some of the accused were also chargesheeted under IPC Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) as a stolen pistol was used for commission of the crime.
The chargesheet lists 61 prosecution witnesses to strengthen its case against the seven accused, who are currently in judicial custody. The witnesses include Khan’s family members (wife and daughter), local shopkeepers, neighbours and security guards in Jamia Nagar. However, police have not been able to get any eyewitness to depose against the accused till now. Prior to employing Izrael, Ramphool had contacted another criminal for a contract amount of Rs 5 lakh. However, the criminal backed out as the murder was to be committed in a densely populated area.