New Delhi, May 3
A Delhi court today issued non-bailable arrest warrant against absconding hotelier Vinod Khatri, charged with bribing former High Court Judge Shamit Mukherjee to pass a judgement in his favour.
Special Judge Prem Kumar, who issued the NBW also gave CBI custody of Dharambir Khattar and former DDA employee Ashok Kapoor after they were formally arrested in the case today.
The probe agency sought their custody saying that they needed to be confronted with Mukerjee, who is in CBI custody, to unearth the conspiracy hatched among the accused.
The court also gave the CBI time till May 12 to execute the arrest warrant.
Praying the court to issue the NBW, CBI counsel T.P. Singh said Khatri, who owned the Sahara restaurant on Aruna Asif Ali Road, had not responded to notices asking him to cooperate in the probe.
Special teams
constituted by the agency too had failed to locate him, Mr T.P. Singh said.
Remanding Khattar, who played the middleman’s role, and Kapoor to CBI custody, the court observed that frequent telephone calls between the accused revealed their intimacy and showed that Mukherjee was permitting his constitutional office to be used for private ends.
PTI
