Illegal property transfer: Retired revenue official, clerk held

ABBOTTABAD:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested a retired revenue officer and a clerk on Thursday for the alleged illegal transfer of a house.

Elaborating on the case, FIA Hazara Assistant Director Arshad Masood said Jagjit Singh owned a double-storey building near Fawara Chowk in Abbottabad measuring 280 square yards.

Jagjit had rented the building to Joda Ram, who lived there with his family till September 1947, when they migrated to India. Before leaving for India, Ram and his wife, Bhagwan Devi, illegally sold the property to Abdul Manan Khan of Baidadi village in Mansehra.

In 1997, Khan illegally transferred the property rights in the name of Badarun Nisa, who transferred the land to her husband, Qazi Azizur Rehman, in 2010, after allegedly greasing the palm of then-Deputy District Officer Revenue (DDOR) Manzoor Khan and Settlement Clerk Arshad Khan.

Following a complaint, the FIA investigated the matter and found the two revenue officials, along with Rehman, Nisa and their daughter Javeria guilty of illegally transferring the property and registered cases against them. The FIA have arrested Manzoor, and Arshad, while the other three accused are still at large.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Shah has cancelled the transfer deed of the property, the FIA said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2013.