Islamabad-Police have failed in arresting a fraudster-cum-proclaimed offender wanted for swindling millions of rupees from innocent citizens on the pretext to invest in an international organisation working in Pakistan, informed sources on Monday. The PO has been identified as Tahir Iqbal son of Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal. On complaints of two citizens, officials of Police Station (PS) Karachi Company had registered two cases against the accused under sections 489-F but failed to net him. Asim Hafeez, Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate Sec 30, West Islamabad and Saqib Jawad, Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate, Islamabad had declared the accused Tahir Iqbal as proclaimed offender and directed Karachi Company police to apprehend him.
According to details, Tahir Iqbal along with his other gang members had swindled more that Rs 700 million from scores of citizens on the pretext to invest in an international organisation based in Islamabad. However, the fraudster went into hiding after taking the amount while the victims had also approached Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for legal action against him and other gang members.  A victim namely Umer, resident of Rawalpindi, told The Nation that Tahir Iqbal along with his members had taken Rs 30 million from him through a fraudulent way and later on refused to return the amount. Similarly, another victim Suhail told that the fraudster swindled Rs 40 million from him and disappeared. Many other victims said their hard-earned amount was looted by the accused.
Station House Officer (SHO) Police Station (PS) Karachi Company Sub Inspector (SI) Salim Raza, when contacted, confirmed that Tahir Iqbal is wanted by police in monetary fraud cases. He said a court declared him as PO and police investigators have launched manhunt to trace out the accused. He said investigators had also obtained data of the accused and got CNIC of the accused blocked.