Foreign national loses property to fraud

A naturalised Norwegian of Pakistani origin was duped out of a Rs30 million house because of a fraud by his close relatives.

ISLAMABAD: A naturalised Norwegian of Pakistani origin was duped out of a Rs30 million house because of a fraud committed by his close relatives.

Raja Mehboob, who has been living in Norway for over 30 years, owned a 10-marla two-storey house in Sector F-10/3 of Islamabad. The upper portion was rented to a foreign national, while the ground portion was vacant.

Police suspect that Ansar and Latif, relatives of Mehboob, forged fake documents of the house and sold them to a man named Inayatur Rehman, who was possibly privy to the fraud.

The case came to light when Raja Mehboob’s servant, Muhammad Maqsood, lodged a complaint with Shalimar Police on Friday about being forcibly evicted from the property. He had been living in the servant quarter along with his family.

A police party was sent to the house on Friday, where it encountered four people claiming to work for Inayatur Rehman. They told the police party that Rehman had bought the property for Rs30 million and sent them for safekeeping of the house. The police party booked the four “guards” and brought them to the police station.

The servant, during investigations, told the police that he was kidnapped along with his wife and children by Ansar, a relative of Mehboob, and taken to Bahria Town. He was later asked by Ansar and Latif, another relative, to write a statement claiming that he had voluntarily vacated the house he was living in. He added that his family were manhandled and threatened of “grave consequences” if they tried to return to Raja Mehboob’s house.

He also claimed that he had signed the evacuation statement on gunpoint. After being released, however, he went to the Mehboob’s house, after shifting his family to a safe location. When he arrived at the house he was told that it had been sold to Inayatur Rehman by Ansar and Latif.

Police said the four men arrested from the house produced a written agreement and documents showing that the property was bought by Inayatur Rehman. Later, after the papers were scrutinised, the police found out that Ansar and Latif had forged the papers.

The police have registered a case against two suspects but have not been able to arrest any of them. The four men arrested from the house are still in police custody as Inatur Rehman has not come to bail them out, despite being contacted by the police.

Raja Mehboob, who is currently in Norway, has been apprised of the situation. He is expected to fly back to Pakistan to pursue the case. A police official said that they were searching for Ansar and Latif and had also issued a notice to Inatur Rehman to come and explain his involvement in the fraud.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2010