The Hindu : New Delhi News : Court directs CBI to frame charges against ex-DDA chief

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Court directs CBI to frame charges against ex-DDA chief

Staff Reporter

Former DDA chief Subhash Sharma

NEW DELHI: Paving the way for trial proceedings in a corruption case involving former Delhi Development Authority Vice-Chairman Subhash Sharma, a special court here on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to frame charges against him and four others in a case of illegally allowing a lift to be constructed on a DDA plot against monetary considerations.

Special CBI Judge I. K. Kochhar said that on the basis of evidence provided by the investigating agency, a prima facie case was made out against five of the six accused in the case.

The court acquitted the sixth accused, Yashpal Manocha, saying the CBI had failed to bring on record any prima facie evidence against him. The court will on April 16 decide the sections under which the trial would be carried out against the accused, who have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Apart from Subhash Sharma, the other four accused in the case are property dealer Dharamvir Khattar, former NDMC employee and Khattar’s associate Ved Prakash Kaushik, Pradeep Kapoor and Anil Wadhwa.

Kapoor and Wadhwa were two of the three owners of APY Hoteliers and Developers who were allegedly involved in paying the bribe to Sharma. Manocha was the third owner of the company.

According to the FIR registered on April 3, 2003, by the CBI, APY Hoteliers and Developers had got a licence to set up a restaurant-cum-bar on the third floor of a building in the Community Centre at Paschim Vihar in West Delhi. The building, owned by Jaina Properties, had been bought in an open DDA auction in 1983.

To augment access to the restaurant-cum-bar, the owners of APY Hoteliers installed a lift using a vacant DDA plot adjacent to the building. Following complaints, local DDA officials reached the site and served notice on Jaina Properties to stop the illegal construction. Sharma, too, was informed of the illegal construction being carried out by the hoteliers.

The FIR said Sharma, through Khattar, got in touch with Kapoor and offered a “settlement” in their favour against a payment of Rs.20 lakh. Kapoor and Wadhwa then got in touch with Sharma through Khattar and Ved Prakash and the deal was finalised at Rs.10 lakh. Meanwhile, a DDA team had reached the site to remove the encroachment.

However, Sharma prevented the team from carrying out its task and called it back, the FIR said.

The charge-sheet in the case was filed on July 15, 2004, more than a year after the case was registered. The CBI had then said the difficulty in getting permission to prosecute an IAS officer had led to the delay in filing of the charge-sheet.

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