Leprechaun logic: Pir promises pots of gold for cash

Jahanian Police arrest pir involved in scamming people out of millions of rupees.

MULTAN: Jahanian Police has arrested a pir involved in scamming people out of millions of rupees by promising to find pots of gold buried in their yards.

According to residents of Multan’s Shah Rukn Alam Colony, a local pir Sikandar Ali Gardezi has robbed several people in southern Punjab by promising them pots of gold buried in their land. “He told us that if we paid him Rs10,000 he would be able to get one of his mureed’s (djinn) to find pots of gold buried all over our property,” said Aslam.

Gardezi has allegedly robbed people in other districts including Rahim Yar Khan and Jhang, where he told locals that he had several djinn’s under his control and that the supernatural beings were able to locate hidden reservoirs of gold in peoples lands.

Sikandar Ali Gardezi allegedly used to visit peoples houses and would dig a deep ditch and ask the residents to leave the place overnight so that it could fill up with gold. Gardezi later placed a cooking pot in the ditch and filled it with gold to demonstrate to the residents. “The next day he would ask us to give him money to place more pots and let them fill and when we paid him he left with all the money,” said Ameena Bibi.

Over 14 cases have been registered against Sikandar Ali Gardezi in RY Khan, Multan and other cities and Gardezi recently asked Jahanian Chak-115 resident Mushtaq Ahmed to dig gold for him from his house compounds. “He told me that he had already placed a pot to fill up with gold but that the djinn could only retrieve it after he had been paid,” Mushtaq said, adding that he then gave Gardezi Rs20,000. Gardezi asked for more money from Mushtaq and refused to ‘recover the gold’ until he received the payment. Following this incident, Mushtaq registered a case against Gardezi with the Jahanian police station. The police arrested Gardezi and registered a case against him and his accomplices Muhammad Yousuf and two unidentified men. After hearing of Sikandar Ali Gardezi’s arrest several people have been visiting the police station recounting tales of how Gardezi had scammed them out of millions of rupees in the past few months.

Khanewal DPO Waqar Abbasi said that Gardezi was a seasoned scam artist and had several cases registered against him. “He is taking advantage of naïve people who are willing to believe his tales of sorcery. He has robbed scores of poor men by promising them gold,” the DPO said. Police officials said that they had discovered that Gardezi had been burying copper coins that had been spray painted gold and would entice locals with the ‘gold’.

Published in The Express Tribune, 15^th, 2011.