Cops booked for extorting money from scrap dealer

Gadap City SHO allegedly demanded Rs250,000 to allow house’s construction

The Gadap City police booked on Monday their SHO, ASI and other police officials for allegedly demanding and collecting extortion, in line with judicial orders.

According to a statement given by scrap dealer Muhammad Imran, who filed the complaint, he had bought a plot of 125 yards in Haji Mir Muhammad Gabol Goth in 2015, and subsequently had started construction on it in March this year.

Imran claimed that ASI Shaukat Ali, constable Naeem and a driver arrived at the plot in a police van on March 17 and demanded extortion in exchange for letting him build a house on the plot.

He shared that the officials collected Rs15,000 from him before he was forced to stop construction due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Stating that Gadap City SHO Naimat Bhatti also came to the plot when he restarted building the house after the government reopened the construction sector, he added that the SHO took the labourers into police custody.

Imran claimed that he went to the police station and told Bhatti that ASI Ali had given him a no-objection certificate to build the house. However, he added, the SHO insisted that he did not know any ASI Ali and demanded Rs250,000 if Imran wanted permission for construction, threatening to file an FIR against him otherwise.

Imran maintained that he had acquired a judicial order after filing a petition in court against the aforementioned officials for collecting and demanding extortion from him, and demanded legal action against them.

The case was registered and forwarded to the Special Investigation Unit for further investigation while Malir SSP Irfan Bahadur suspended Ali, Bhatti and other accused officials. Bahadur subsequently appointed Inspector Ghayyur as the Gadap City SHO.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2020.