Alleged land-grabbing: Case registered against Taji Khokhar, 15 others

Raid had led arrest of several suspects and seizure of weapons and liquor from his sprawling estate near Koral Chowk

ISLAMABAD:

The Koral police on Friday registered a case against the incarcerated landlord Taji Khokhar and 15 others for their alleged involvement in illegally occupying land.

Khokhar, who is facing murder charges, was booked along with his accomplices on the complaint of Muhammad Safdar, a resident of Koral, who said 15 armed persons attempted to occupy his five kanal plot in Ghauri Town Phase-III.

The complainant said armed men turned up at his plot on Thursday afternoon in four vehicles and a tractor and started occupying his land.

However, when he called the police, they escaped abandoning one vehicle which was impounded by the authorities.

The police registered the FIR against Khokhar, Zamir Kokhar, Nauman alias Nomi, Asif Shah Gilani, Nazir alias Giru, Haroon, Rafique, Qazi Habibur Rehman, Hanif, Ashraf alias Sialkoti, Wali Jan and others.

Sadfar told The Express Tribune that locals including his family are continuously harassed by the alleged land grabbers who also hurl life threats.

He alleged that Khokhar was the ringleader of the gang and passes orders from Adiala Jail.

Sadfar said the men who tried to grab his land were the same who were recently arrested by law-enforcement agencies from the Khokhar house. He said all those arrested are now out on bail.

On September 18, as part of a pre-dawn crackdown in the capital’s outskirts, police of the twin cities along with Rangers raided the Khokhar’s ‘dera’.

The raid had led to arrest of several suspects and seizure of weapons and liquor from his sprawling estate near Koral Chowk. However, a source in the police told The Express Tribune that most of the suspects present at Khokhar’s house at the time had escaped the house before the raid as they were tipped off by some cops.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2015.