KMC issued contempt notice for demolishing leased structure

NED VC, ex-Malir DC, home secretary paid extortion amount to con artist posing as NAB official, SHC told

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court issued contempt notices to Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's anti-encroachment director and other relevant officials on Friday for violating the court's stay on demolition of leased houses.

A single bench comprising Justice Arshad Hussain Khan heard the contempt petition pertaining to demolition of a house in FB Area on the pretext of Gujjar Nullah anti-encroachment drive. The petitioner stated that a stay had been granted on leased houses in the area and that a survey had confirmed that the house in question was not within the boundaries of the nullah.

Expressing annoyance at the KMC anti-encroachment teams, the court summoned Bashir Siddiqui, Mazhar Khan and other officials in personal capacity at the next hearing.

Con artists' defence

Meanwhile, a list of victims of con men father and son duo, arrested on charges of extorting money from senior government officers, while posing as National Accountability Bureau chairperson and director general, called into question as to what they were hiding.

"What were the victims afraid of that they got blackmailed by the suspects, what were they hiding," argued the defence counsel for Khalid Solangi and his son Amir Hussain Solangi, before the SHC. According to NAB, Khalid, impersonating NAB chairperson, collected Rs17 million from Home Secretary Amir Khurshid. He also conned the chief minister's brother-in-law Imdad Ali Shah and collected extortion money. Moreover, Khalid, posing as NAB Sindh DG extorted Rs25.4 million from Shakeel Mehar and Rs25 million from Hazrat Bakhsh Kalhoro. Others who paid extortion money to the accused included NED Engineering University Vice Chancellor Sarosh Hashmat Lodhi and former Malir DC Shaukat Jokhio.

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The NAB prosecutor told the court that the said officials have accepted making these payments to Khalid.

Hearing the case, a two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi directed the NAB prosecutor to justify the arrest of Amir Hussain.

The defence counsel contended that the punishment for the father's crime could not be given to his son. Amir, 20, has been in jail since April 21, but NAB has presented nothing against him, he argued, praying the court to release his client on bail. The NAB prosecutor informed the court that a reference would be filed against Amir and Khalid Solangi by August 31. He further said The court directed the anti-graft watchdog to immediately file a reference.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2021.