Property dealer, whistleblower fell out over Gautam’s share

Vijay Patanjali (36), the property dealer who surrendered before a city court two days ago, fell out with Deepak Kumar, the whistleblower who was arrested in the case.

Vijay Patanjali (36), the property dealer who surrendered before a city court two days ago, fell out with Deepak Kumar, the whistleblower who was arrested in the case.

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The reason behind the differences was that Patanjali was allegedly not in favour of sharing profits with ML Gautam, a retired clerk who too was arrested in the 2008 DDA housing scheme scam.

Police said Kumar, who had fraudulently filled up application forms in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, had not informed his alleged partners — Patanjali and Suresh Kumar Meena, who is absconding, — about the alliance with Gautam.

Patanjali, who is presently in police custody, has been booked earlier in a criminal case at Jehangirpuri police station.

“Patanjali tried to dodge us by saying that he had opened a business of surgical goods with Meena and had given the money (used to buy the application forms) to him for the same,” said a senior police officer.

Before this, he has started a business of mechanical spare parts and has also dabbled in agency selling imported vegetables, police said.

He also bought a taxi once and it was during this time that he met Meena.

“Meena introduced him to Kumar and the three arranged the money to invest in the application forms in the reserved category,” the officer said.

Soon after the scam was unearthed, Patanjali told the police that he fled to Vaishno Devi.

Police fear the accused may have burnt some important documents pertaining to the case.

So far, six persons have been arrested in the case.