Citizens lose billions to illicit housing project

Koral police register 146 cases of fraud, illegal occupation and firing against project owners

ISLAMABAD:

The victims of a private housing scheme located near the Islamabad Highway Expressway have touched thousands in numbers, forcing the police to take up a pile of complaints of fraud and cheating against the owner and employees.

The Koral SP has launched a formal investigation into the complaints of scams worth billions of rupees and started collecting data while hearing the victims regularly.

Sources further said that among these thousands of victims, most of the victims are those who have been sold the same plot file many times.

The scary aspect of the private housing society, Ghori Town, is that at least 50 cases of fraud have already been registered against its main owner Chaudhry Abdul Rehman and more are pending, while a total of 146 cases of fraud, cheating, illegal occupation and firing have been registered against other owners of the society in the Koral police station.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the Koral police have registered 35 cases of fraud against Chaudhry Ramzan, the alleged frontman of Abdul Rahman. Similarly, 45 cases of fraud and fighting have been lodged against Abdul Rehman’s partner Raja Salman and 11 cases against his brother Raja Jahangir. Furthermore, five cases of fraud and fighting have been registered against Chaudhry Junaidur Rahman, son of Abdul Rehman.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has also officially advertised in a section of the media, asking the victims to submit their documents so that the reference against 23 people involved in the fraud could be finalised.

The victims say that they have been being humiliated by society’s operators for the last 15 years. “I was in Saudi Arabia and the land mafia seized my property. On my return, I was booked in a false case when demanded my property back. I was sent to jail,” Haji Waris, an affected citizen said. He fears that if the NAB or the Capital Development Authority (CDA) does not take timely action, the accused will flee abroad with the looted money.

Sources in the Housing Societies Department of the CDA said that this society is completely illegal and the authority has sealed it several times in the past. Later after seeing the problems of the public, it was reopened.

A senior CDA officer, requesting anonymity, said that the housing society is a challenge for the authority but thousands of people have already built residential properties there. The CDA always keeps the public interest in view, however, whenever NAB or any other agency come forward for action, the society’s management, and the nominated accused would go to jail and the victims would get their compensation.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2024.