July 01, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1428

GUJRANWALA, June 30: A man who was accused of corruption in 1978 and charge sheeted in 2001 is still on trial after a lapse of 29 years. When the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) filed in a court a charge sheet against five people against whom a corruption case was registered in 1978, the plaintiff, eight of the 24 witnesses and four of the five accused had died. Now, after almost 29 years, only one accused is alive and facing the trial. Last time, the case was heard in the last week of June.

According to details, retired army official Ghulzar Ahmed of Mandiala Warraich village (Cantonment) moved an application to the then martial law administrator that Akhter Hussain Shah of Dharowal village had transferred about 269 kanals of the government land to his name in connivance with revenue officials.

The ACE registered a case against Shah and his co-accused patwari Muhammad Rafiq, naib tehsildar Inaitullah Bhango, patwari Muhammad Nawaz and negotiator Sufi Chiraq Din on July 27, 1978 after an enquiry report confirmed allegations against them. Now the ACE had to file a charge sheet against the accused, which it could not till 2001. When it finally filed the charge sheet in the court in 2001, accused Chiraq Din, Bhango and Nawaz had died. Later, accused Shah also died.

Recently, the court summoned witnesses and the plaintiff, but it was told that plaintiff Ahmed and witnesses Munir Hussain, Muhammad Yousef, Muhammad Rafiq, Iqbal, Abdul Ghani, Muhammad Afzal, Faizullah and Muhammad Arif were also dead.

However, Anti-Corruption Court Judge Ziaur Rehman framed charges against sole accused Rafiq, recorded statement by various witnesses and adjourned the case till July 20. Accused Rafiq is now 75 and lives in Sheikhupura.

Dawn contacted ACE authorities to find why the case was delayed for so long, but they could not explain.

Kidnappers: A teenaged girl student, who was kidnapped for ransom, was released after a payment of Rs500,000, while police claimed that it arrested three alleged kidnappers after a brief encounter on Saturday.

The 17-year-old student, who is daughter of a trader from Sialkot Road, had been allegedly kidnapped for ransom by car riders some days ago.

The girl’s family paid the kidnappers ransom in Rajkot village before they released her.

Later, Aroop police said it raided a criminals’ hideout to arrest them, but they resisted. Finally, they surrendered, the police said, identifying them as Khalil, Abdul Razaq and Navid. Police said it also seized illicit arms and cash from the accused and registered a case against them.