FIR names cricketer Mohammad Sami for rash driving, damage claim

Advoca­te Cheema claims Sami hit his car, will file another FIR for threat­ening him to return compen­sation back.

LAHORE: The Gulberg Police in Lahore have registered an FIR against cricketer Mohammad Sami and his three friends under charges of mischief, causing damage and rash driving, late Wednesday night.

According to the officer on duty at the police station, they have registered an FIR, number 756/12, under section 427 and 279 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Advocate Farrukh Ilyas Cheema. No one has been arrested so far.

PPC 427: Mischief causing damage to the amount of 50 rupees:

Whoever commits mischief and thereby causes loss or damage to the amount of 50 rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

279. Rash driving or riding on a public way:

Whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to three thousand rupees or with both.

Talking to The Express Tribune, complainant Cheema said that he had lodged an FIR against Sami for misbehaving with him and causing damage to his car while rashly driving his car at Hussain Chowk, Gulberg on May 26.

Narrating the incident, he said that Sami and his friend Mohammad Shakil Gondal were returning from MM Alam Road in a Toyota Corolla - AHJ 583 - when they hit his car– LEF 5734 Coure – from behind at Hussain Chowk, damaging the car.

The advocate added that initially Sami, his friend Shaukat Bhatti and three other unidentified men laughed at him mockingly and only after he pressured the cricketer for compensation, the latter offered his Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) as surety, saying that he would pay him the next day.

The complainant further recounted that Sami again misbehaved with him the next day when the former called him up, demanding the compensation and instead said that he would pay him after returning from the Sri Lanka tour. However, Sami's freind, Bhatti delivered a cheque of Rs 30,000, payable at Dawood Islamic Bank, to Cheema and retrieved Sami’s CNIC in return.

However, Cheema said that he received a call from Sami the next day demanding the return of the cheque. Cheema said that the cricketer allegedly misbehaved with him. On this, he decided to file an FIR against the cricketer.

Cheema said that on Thursday he would file another FIR against the fast bowler for threatening him, claiming that he also has a record of threats made by the player.

Sami is making a comeback, after a long hiatus from the national side, and is hopeful of being featured in the series against Sri Lanka scheduled to start from June 1. The 31 year old fast bowler from Karachi, was dropped from the team in 2010 due to unimpressive performance.

However, a string of good spells in domestic cricket impressed the selectors who handed him a chance to don the green shirt in the T20, ODI and Test matches.