Sabzi Mandi extortion case: Ring leader still at large, top cop informs court

Report submitted in IHC implicates CDA officials in Rs5m monthly racket.

ISLAMABAD:

One of two gang leaders involved in extortion in the city’s fruit and vegetable market is still at large, according to the Islamabad Police chief’s statement in court on Monday.

Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sikandar Hayat submitted a report, identifying people involved in the extortion ring in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which is hearing a case related to extortion in Sabzi Mandi. The six-page report stated that two main gangs were involved in extorting money from fruit and vegetable vendors, one of whose leaders had confessed.

In the report, the police identified two main groups running the extortion ring in Sabzi Mandi. Gang leader Nasir Khan is on the run while Amanullah alias Sheeno from the Sheeno group, an Afghan national, has been arrested. The case is pending in a trial court. According to the report, Khan had hired 35 thugs to extort money from traders.

Meanwhile, Advocate Saeed Khan, Amanullah’s counsel informed the court that Islamabad Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Adnan had rejected his client’s bail application, stating that he was not present in court, despite the fact that he was there. He informed the court that the co-accused had already obtained interim bail from an antit-terrorism court (ATC), which had been extended five times. Khan argued that Amanullah’s bail had been rejected which was unfair. IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui asked how could Amanullah’s bail application be rejected despite his lawyer’s presence in court and asked the additional judge to submit a report.

The court also sought a report from the ATC on the case pending in the trial court. He said a decision should be taken on the bail pleas of the accused, instead of giving extensions. The court adjourned the case till October 11.

On September 18, the court had expressed dissatisfaction over a report jointly submitted by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Police. The court had directed IGP Hayat to identify the actual culprits running the extortion ring, be it politicians, CDA or Islamabad Capital Territory officials. The new report implicated CDA officials Aurangzeb and Zaheer in the extortion racket.

On a previous hearing, the IGP had informed the court that traders in Sabzi Mandi pay Rs5 million as extortion every month and that police officials were involved in the racket. The extortion case is based ironically on a petition filed by Amanullah, one of the gang leaders, after he was nominated in an FIR, who alleged that influential traders, with the backing of police and politicians, extort money from vendors in Sabzi Mandi at gunpoint.

The crime rate in Sector I-11, which houses 8,000 Afghans in a katchi abadi, is high compared to other parts of the city. CDA had decided to carry out an eviction and registration operation in January against illegal residents but the plan was scrapped due to “pressure from various quarters” before it could see the light of day, according to a CDA official.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2013.