FIR registered against factory owner, workers

GUJRAT: Police registered a case against more than 500 workers and the owner of NM Furnishers, a furniture factory, for harassing officials of the Federal Board of Revenue late night on Tuesday. The factory owner and workers are accused of harassing the officials, destroying the factory’s financial records seized by the FBR officials, snatching their laptops and detaining them illegally.

Rehmania police registered a case under Sections 395, 6/7 ATA, 436, 186, 342,148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code at around 2am on Wednesday. The case was registered against Abid Farooq, owner of NM Furnishers, 10 nominated workers and 500 unidentified people. The complaint was filed by Assistant Director Umar Butt who said the factory workers, on directions of the employer, had snatched the FBR officials’ laptops and the financial records of NM Furnishers which they had seized in the raid. He said that the workers had harassed FBR officials and detained them illegally. “A team of FBR officials had visited the factory to check their financial records. The workers attacked us at the gates and destroyed the records we had seized,” Butt said. Rehmania police said that none of the suspects had been arrested so far.  On Wednesday, scores of furniture workers held a demonstration against the FBR officials. They gathered on GT Road and the Bypass Road and blocked them for traffic. They burned tyres on the road and shouted slogans against the FBR. Mian Ejaz, president of the Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called a meeting on Wednesday to condemn the attitude of FBR officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2016.