Two alleged con men, posing as the personal assistant and relative of a Supreme Court judge, have swindled people in Lahore out of more than Rs1 million, according to law enforcement officials.
Sources in both the Punjab police and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said that the alleged scam artists were first brought to their attention by officials at the Supreme Court, who were asked by the judge to look into the matter. The judge found out about the alleged con men when one person, trying to verify their story of being affiliated with a Supreme Court justice, called the judge and told him about the scam.
Law enforcement officials have not identified which of the seventeen judges on the Supreme Court it was whose name was being used by the alleged swindlers.
The two men, identified as Rana Nisar and Kaleem Butt, allegedly tried to persuade a person by the name of Shahzaib Altaf Khan to enter into a real estate transaction with them involving a piece of land in Johar Town, Lahore.
According to law enforcement sources, one of the men claimed to be a personal assistant of the judge and the other claimed variously to be either the judge’s son or his nephew. Butt gave two cheques worth Rs1.5 million to Khan, both of which were not honoured by the banks they were issued by. It is unclear if any land was transferred, but police officials have arrested Butt and are in the process of trying to trace Nisar.
Law enforcement officials have been using both men’s mobile phone numbers and call data record to trace their movements and were able to successfully arrest Butt using tracking technology.
One of the cell-phones being used by the two men belonged to a man who spends most of his time working in Kuwait and only uses his phone on trips back to Pakistan. The owner of that phone appears to be unconnected to the fraud investigation.
The FIA’s Punjab headquarters have been in touch with the Supreme Court secretariat, keeping them abreast of the investigation. In a letter to the apex court, FIA officials clarified that the alleged crime was not a cyber crime and did not involve electronic communications. A case has been registered by the police against both Butt and Nisar under the infamous section 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code, among other charges.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ