Land scam: Ex-magistrate seeks bail

IHC CJ Kasi issued notice after Nadeem who had also served tehsildar in the capital, filed for post-arrest bail.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sought a reply from the state in response to a post- arrest bail plea by a former magistrate.

IHC Chief JusticeMuhammad Anwar Khan Kasi issued the notice after Farrukh Nadeem who had also served tehsildar in the capital, filed for post-arrest bail. He was arrested by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for a land scam.

Advocate Sardar Ishaq, the counsel for the petition maintained that an anti-corruption court had rejected his bail despite the fact that a false first information report (FIR) was registered against his client. Ishaq informed the court that his client is in jail for two months even though he is not involved in this scam. He requested the court to accept the plea for post-arrest bail and order his release.

After preliminary hearing, the court adjourned the matter till the next date to be fixed by the registrar’s office.

On September 16, FIA had arrested him from outside the IHC after his bail was rejected by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui. According to the case, registered with the FIA in June, Asif Javed had sold five kanals to Walayat Khan Abbasi in Mora Noor, a suburb of the capital in 1991. Abbasi had alleged that Javed withheld the land transfer in connivance with then the tehsildar, Nadeem, after bribing him with Rs1.5 million.

Earlier, Justice Siddiqui had directed FIA to register a case against one of its officials for helping Nadeem evade arrest.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2013.