Fraud: ‘Lawyer forged documents to release prisoners’

He denied the charge during a police investigation

LAHORE: An inquiry into allegations of fraud by a lawyer has concluded that he and his accomplices were running a gang securing release of under trial prisoners held at the district jail using counterfeit documents, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The inquiry has found that advocate Muhammad Sibtain Ali Hanjra and his team would fake bail orders for his clients using counterfeit stamps and forged signatures of the judges concerned.

The inquiry, conducted by Additional District and Sessions Judge Nasir Javed Rana, also found Hunjra’s clerk Abdul Waheed and some officials at the judicial wing of the district jail guilty. The latter were found negligent in performance of their duties.

The inquiry found that the gang had secured release of eight suspects using counterfeit documents.

In one of the cases, Hunjra was found to have filed four bail applications. The first and the third were dismissed as withdrawn. The second was dismissed on merit. Hanjra and his accomplices had tempered with judicial record before filing the third application, replacing the judge’s original order with a counterfeit document ordering release on bail. The application was dismissed once the judge noticed a discrepancy between the interim and the detailed order. The fourth application was then submitted.

The report stated that Hunjra had also been nominated as a suspect in 17 car lifting and robbery cases. He was detained and some of the stolen items were recovered from him.

The report stated that an investigation team had claimed that Hunjra had admitted to having a role in one of the car lifting cases. He had told the police that he hired some men to pick up Advocate Taimoor Tahir Kharal’s car, the report said. Hunjra had said that he wanted to teach Kharal a lesson for his role in a sting operation against.

Advocate Kharal had initially raised the matter upon learning that Hunjra had secured release of two suspects in a dacoity case using counterfeit documents. Kharal had been representing two other suspects in the case. In a complaint to ADSJ Gulzar Ahmad Khalid, Kharal had sought action against Hunjra for using counterfeit documents to secure the release of suspects.

An FIR was susbsequently registered with Islampura police and Hunjra’s clerk Waheed was arrested in a sting operation. Hunjra had then obtained a pre-arrest bail in the matter.

Regarding district jail officials, the report said that they had been negligent in performance of their duties. The report also observed that some members of the gang had been involved in preparing counterfeit court decrees and filing execution petitions on the basis of these decrees.

It suggested that directions be issued to all executing courts to submit a list of execution petitions in which the original record was not available. It said judicial officers should be asked to undertake a thorough examination of these petitions for irregularities.

The report also suggested that the Anti-Corruption Establishment be approached for criminal proceedings against public servants found involved in the matter.

It said that the Punjab Bar Council should be approached for cancellation of Hunjra’s licence.

When contacted, SI Irshad at the Islampura police station said that Hunjra had been granted bail. He said that during investigation Hunjra had denied the charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2016.