Land mafia: SP Zakir gets bail before arrest in dacoity case

KARACHI:

The Hyderabad Superintendent of Police (SP) Zakir Hussain was admitted to bail before arrest for Rs100,000 in a dacoity case on Tuesday.

A man named Afzaluddin had registered the case against him at the Sohrab Goth police station on March 11 under section 397 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Afzaluddin said that he was at his plot where earth was being dug up to be sold in the city when a number of men snatched Rs21,850 from him.

According to SP Zakir Hussain’s lawyer Irfan Aziz, however, this is a fake dacoity case brought against his client because he is trying to prevent the take-over of 250 acres of land.

The plot in question is 250 acres in Deh Bitti Amri, Malir owned by Zakir’s good friend Haji Anwar Brohi. According to Aziz, SSP Rao Anwar was enemies with SP Zakir.

Aziz submitted that Zakir reached the police station as a number of his friends and acquaintances, who are owners of the plot, were detained by the police.

The case was fake and the police overstepped their authority by lodging a FIR against a gazetted officer without the permission of the IG, Zakir’s lawyer said. He submitted that the Malir police had surrounded the Malir district court anticipating Zakir’s arrival for bail in order to arrest him before he made it to court.

On Tuesday evening, Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Nisar Muhammad Shaikh granted Zakir bail till Saturday with direction to appear before the trial court in the meantime and secure bail from it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2012.