rawalpindi - The Anti-Corruption Court on Wednesday rejected bail plea of a local landlord held for allegedly preparing bogus power of attorney to grab the land of a private housing scheme in suburb of the federal capital.
Special Judge Anti-Corruption Court Pervaiz Ismail Joya refused to grant the bail to Chaudhry Khalid Akbar of Pindh Ranjha allegedly involved in making fake power of attorney with phony signatures to occupy precious land originally owned by a housing scheme near New Islamabad Airport.
The accused, arrested by Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Rawalpindi investigators during a raid at district courts on November 25, had filed bail application before the court through his lawyer Said Ali Shah Advocate.
While arguing before the court, the defence lawyer said that his client was not a beneficiary in the scam. He said that his client was not even involved in any kind of fraud and the ACE Rawalpindi had implicated him in a case for a crime he never committed. He prayed to the court to grant bail to the accused landlord.
Opposing the arguments of the defence lawyer, the ACE District Public Prosecutor Khawaja Sohail submitted that the investigators had booked the landlord after through inquiry during which he was proved guilty. He contended that the accused was arrested after approval of judicial action against him. It was proved during the investigation that Chaudhry Khalid had prepared the bogus power of attorney and used the same in land revenue department for grabbing the land of the mentioned housing society illegally. “The accused is a beneficiary in the case, therefore, the court should reject his bail application,” Khawaja Sohail argued.
After completion of the arguments, the court rejected the bail plea.
Separately, ACT extended judicial remand till December 19 of three other accused arrested in the same case. The three accused including Naib Tehsildar Naheem Ullah, Gardawar Muhammad Khan and the alleged ring leader of the land mafia Chaudhry Babar were arrested by the ACE after they along with others were found guilty of tempering record of the land revenue department to grab the land of the said housing scheme.
An investigator of the ACE told The Nation that despite having no appointment in Moza Bijnial, the Gardawar Muhammad Khan was involved in declaring the record as correct that was tempered by other revenue department officials. He said that further investigation was underway and all other accused would be arrested soon.
Meanwhile, the three aforementioned accused have also filed bail petitions with the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench that set December 14 the date for hearing.
The ACE Rawalpindi, on complaint of Muhammad Salim Awan, director land and GM security of the said housing society, had registered a case against six officials of the Land Revenue Department Rawalpindi and seven local landlords for conniving in tempering the land ownership documents of the housing scheme, apparently in a bid to grab 540 kanals of precious land.
The accused from the land revenue department were identified as tehsildars Suhail Maqbool and Adnan Kiani, Naib Tehsildar Nahim Ullah, Gardawar Qazi Sajjad and two patwaris Arshad Mehmood and Shahid Hanif whereas Tahir Ayub, Iqbal Ayub, Chaudhry Baber, Chaudhry Khalid, Chaudhry Amjad, Chaudhry Nasir and Chaudhry Amir were among the civilian accused. The Investigators have arrested Naib Tehsildar Nahim Ullah, Gardawar Muhammad Khan and Chaudhry Baber and sent them to Adiala Jail.