The Hindu : Front Page : CBI catches up with Ashok Malhotra

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Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007
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CBI catches up with Ashok Malhotra

Devesh K. Pandey

The contractor with a fleet of fancy cars was wanted in the Delhi multi-crore land scam

Malhotra denies involvement in scam in an interview to a news channel
To be produced in a Tis Hazari court on Tuesday

PTI– PHOTO: PTI

CAUGHT: Multi-crore land scam accused Ashok Malhotra in the custody of CBI officials on Monday. – PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: Ashok Malhotra, the contractor wanted in the Delhi multi-crore land scam case, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation outside the Noida studio of a television news channel where he made a dramatic appearance on Monday morning to tell his side of the story.

Accompanied by his lawyers, Malhotra surfaced at the studio around 9 a.m. and in an interview to the Hindi news channel denied his involvement in the slum-land scam. He claimed that there was a threat to his life.

Though Malhotra denied having any links with Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma and Delhi Assembly Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh, he conceded that some politicians and bureaucrats who were his friends helped him get fancy numbers for his cars. He claimed that his assets were worth not more than Rs.10 crore and that he owned 17 cars and six motorcycles. Malhotra claimed that no documents relating to land purchases were found at his residence. His lawyer, Ashok Sodhi, said Malhotra would approach the court for bail at an appropriate time.

Soon after Malhotra came out of the TV studio, a CBI team arrested him and whisked him away to the agency’s headquarters in the Capital. It is learnt that the CBI officials quizzed him for some time and then called in a doctor to medically examine him in the evening. Malhotra is said to be a diabetic and also suffers from high blood pressure and ulcers.

CBI Director Vijay Shanker said on Monday, “Law shall take its own course and the investigation in this scam will be taken to its logical conclusion. No one, whatsoever position he or she holds, will be spared.”

Stating that investigations into the slum-land scam were in the initial stages, Mr. Vijay Shanker said he would be able to give details only after the documents seized during the raids were examined.

The CBI has alleged that Malhotra, in connivance with five Delhi Development Authority officials, fraudulently got plots allotted at the Dhirpur Phase-I Gandhi Vihar resettlement colony area. After he did not produce himself for questioning despite a notice being served on him, the CBI obtained a non-bailable warrant against him this past Saturday and launched a hunt for him.

The agency will produce Malhotra in a Tis Hazari court here on Tuesday morning seeking his remand for interrogation.

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