New Delhi, May 19: Hotelier Vinod Khatri, arrested in the wake of the DDA scam, was the cousin brother of Azad Singh whose suit against DDA was adjudicated upon by former high court judge Shamit Mukherjee, CBI said today. Opposing Khatri's plea for bail, the agency told special judge Prem Kumar that the accused, who owned a restaurant on Aruna Asaf Ali Marg did have interest in the subject matter of two suits which were pending before the high court.
While Azad Singh was Khatri's cousin brother, Bimla Choudhary, complainant in the other case was his sister-in-law, CBI counsel submitted adding both suits were against DDA's masterplan to widen the road after removing illegal structures.
During the probe, it appeared that Khatri had grabbed the land, which was the subject matter of Choudhary's suit, by dumping "malba" (debris) in the pond and raising the level to the existing ground level, CBI counsel said adding Khatri had put a board reading "Dada Sukhdev Wala Trust" on the land.
Recorded talks between Khatri and alleged middleman Dharambir Khattar reveals the former conveying to Khattar the judge's grouse at the "samaan" (things) not having reached him, he said. However, he declined to say what the "samaan" was.
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its order till tomorrow. The special judge also extended judicial remand of Khatri, sacked DDA vice chairman Subhash Sharma, director of Modern Public School society Amrit Lal Kapoor, suspended DDA official Ashok Kapoor and Khatri till June 2. Bureau Report