MCD Slum wing Director arrested in connection with land scam case

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) Moving ahead in its efforts to unravel the MCD slum resettlement land allotment scam, the CBI has arrested the Director of the Delhi Slum Upgradation and Rehabilitation (SUR) wing.

S N S Sidhu, who was arrested last evening, was today remanded to seven days' CBI custody after he was produced before CBI Judge S K Kaushik.

The CBI had sought his custody to interrogate him regarding certain missing files and also to confront him with the other accused arrested in the case.

Sidhu was arrested after he was summoned by the CBI at its CGO complex office last evening.

His name figured in the second CBI FIR along with land scam kingpin Ashok Malhotra, in the case related to fraudulent allotment of land in the Molarbund Phase II jhuggi rehabilitation plan.

Others named in the August 16 FIR of the CBI are Philip Toppo, Dy Director (SUR), Sumer Chand Garg, Assistant Director (SUR), Atul Vashishtha, UDC, Sher Singh, Assistant Engineer (DD-V) and Nanak Chand Khandelwal, Junior Engineer (DD-V) -- all from the MCD's Slum and Jhuggi-Jhopri Department along with Ashok Jain and others.

They were charged with cheating the MCD and dishonestly allotting plots at Molarbund Phase-II in the name of fictitious persons on the basis of forged documents.

The possession slips of these plots were later passed on by the accused MCD officials to Ashok Malhotra and Ashok Jain who illegally sold them to builders at exorbitant prices.

Investigations disclosed that SNS Sidhu, Director (SUR), MCD-Slum and JJ Department, who was then the Chairman of the Draw Committee which allotted the resettlement plots, connived with Ashok Malhotra in making false allotments under fictitious names and even delivered original documents of the plots at his residence in lieu of huge monetary considerations.

UNI