Karachi: Suspects of land scam case still at large

[Naveed Yaseen]

By M. Zeeshan Azmat
The Sharae Faisal Police have only arrested one of the suspects of the land fraud case, and have been unable to recover Rs35 million in possession of the culprits.

Ghulam Mustafa Burfat, was arrested on January 25, while the main culprit, Ghulam Hussain Qabrani, an employee of the Board of Revenue department, and Shahnaz Bibi, who was the frontline woman in the scam are still at large, investigation officer (IO) Khalid Janjua, said. Barfat is an expert in producing illegal documentations of land and properties, he added.

The police presented Barfat in front of the Judicial Magistrate, East, 5, to obtain a physical remand on January 26. The judge granted the remand till February 1. During the initial interrogation, Barfat told the police that he received Rs7.5 million for making a deal with the plaintiff of the case. However, the police failed to recover a single penny from him. “We asked him about the money but, Barfat replied that he spent it all,” IO Janjua added.

Syed Hussain Musarat Jaffery, the complainant in the case, was duped by Shahnaz, Qabrani and Barfat with respect to the possession of a piece of land that belongs to the government. “They sold him land which is actually owned by the government,” Janjua said.

Jaffery told the police that he purchased an 11? acre plot from Shahnaz. “She informed me that this is her family property and she wanted to sell owing to some personal reasons,” he said. He had paid a huge amount her, and received verification and clearance certificates. Qabrani, on the other hand, offered to help him to get all the documents.

A few days later, Jaffery received the Power of Attorney, No Objection Certificate and other verification letters of the land from the suspects. These documents were fake, said Janjua.

Some time later, Jaffery met with the Mukhtiyarkar and produced the land papers before him. It was at this point that Jaffery learnt that the land was owned by the government and a sou moto order was issued on it. Jaffery then went to Qabrani, who promised that he would handle the situation. Of course, that never happened, added Janjua.

Being duped into buying the land by Qabrani and his accomplices, Jaffery dropped a written application at the office of Board of Revenue to take action against the suspects. He lodged FIR No34/2009 at the Sharea Faisal Police Station against them.

When Qabrani found out about the FIR, he threatened Jaffery of dire consequences. However, to date, Qabrani has not been seen at work or home. Shahnaz Bibi was also missing by that time.

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