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| September 28, 2002 | Saturday | Rajab 20, 1423 |
‘Swindler’ in police custody: Depositors continue protest
MULTAN, Sept 27: Sporadic riots continued on Old Shujabad Road throughout the day as hundreds of ‘madad committee’ members demanded release of Tahir Sharif, the committee’s patron.
Tahir Sharif, reportedly a PTCL technician, had established the madad committee a few months ago and promised 45 per cent profit within a week. According to official sources, the committee started transacting millions of rupees daily.
Tahir was reportedly picked up by some intelligence agency officials on Thursday when he was visiting his lawyers in the district courts.
The news of his disappearance spread like a jungle fire and his ‘beneficiaries’ blocked the old Shujabad Road on Thursday evening. The protesters did not allow police an access to the committee office and remained on the road till late night.
On Friday morning, they again assembled on the road and chanted slogans against police and demanded release of their “benefactor”. However, the police authorities denied that Tahir was in their custody.
At this, the mob again pelted stones on the police and vehicles. At 1pm, the district administration urged the protesters to form a committee to initiate talks to resolve the issue. The committee held talks with the district police chief in the presence of Multan city tehsil Nazim Faisal Mukhtar. The authorities promised that the return of their deposits would be ensured.
But the confused ‘investors’ were present outside the committee’s office even at the time of filing this report at 11pm.
When contacted, the DPO admitted that Tahir was being interrogated by police and he had confessed to defrauding the people. He said the swindler launched the committee after being inspired by the ‘best future plan’ scheme of a Lahore-based firm.
He said Tahir had admitted that he had Rs25 million to Rs30 million in various banks besides a couple of luxury vehicles and plots. “He owes tens of millions of rupees to his clients,” the DPO said.
He said the madad committee patron had 30 women and 45 men on his pay role. Besides Tahir, four others were also being interrogated by the police, he said.
Reports said his all bank accounts had been freezed.
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