Ittefaq Foundry Case: Police, records summoned

LAHORE: An additional district and sessions judge on Monday granted pre-arrest bail to a man accused of stealing Rs10 million worth of copper from Ittefaq Foundry and summoned the police record and complainant in the FIR by July 18. Petitioner Khurram Dogar was granted bail at Rs50,000. The judge also directed him to join the investigation and appear before the court at every hearing. Dogar submitted that he had been implicated in a fake case. The complainant had registered the case, in connivance with police, to blackmail him, he said. Dogar was one of several suspects mentioned in the FIR registered at Kot Lakhpat police station under Sections 408 [criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant] and 380 [theft in dwelling house] of the PPC. It stated that the police had conducted a raid at the factory on a tip off. The factory had been handed over to the bank as collateral on a loan. The FIR said the police had caught CEO Jawahar Cheema, Muhammad Ashfaq, Security Officer Waseem, Supervisors Muzaffar and Sarwar Khan, Khurram Dogar, Afzal Dogar, Shabira Kabaria, Shakeel and eight others loading two mini trucks with copper, but they escaped.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2013.