NDMC law officer murdered due to hotel dispute

A law officer with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) who was killed on Monday night by unknown assailants was likely shot dead due to "professional motives" over a hotel licence, police said on Tuesday.

Mohammad Moin Khan, 58, a deputy law officer with the NDMC, was murdered in South Delhi's Jamia Nagar area by two unidentified motorcycle borne assailants who intercepted him on the pretext of asking an address. He was shot point blank in the chest.

A senior police officer connected with the case told IANS: "There is no angle of personal enmity behind his murder. He was killed because of tracking a hotel case which he was handling for the NDMC."

Police said the CCTV footage shows a motorcycle with two persons but they are yet to investigate whether they were the attackers or not.

"We have collected the last three days CCTV footage of the area," he added.

Khan's neighbour, Saquib Siddiqui, who lives just 50 metres away, told IANS that some strangers had been enquiring about Khan's residence for the last few days.

"They would ask for his address by his house number, D-13, showing a marriage card," he added.

Siddiqui said, "On a number of occasions, Khan told us that he was under immense pressure from his seniors regarding a case of a hotel in the NDMC area that required his clearance, which he refused to give. He was also offered Rs.3 crore to settle the issue."

"However, Khan didn't reveal the name of the hotel to us, but he said that he might be murdered any day," Siddiqui added.

"Police has taken the CCTV footage of the area. Most of the strangers while asking for his address were not wearing helmets," he added.

A case of murder has been registered at the Jamia Nagar police station against unidentified persons and probe is on. No arrest has been made yet.

Khan is survived by his wife and three daughters.

--IANS

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