January 16, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 06, 1429

SAHIWAL, Jan 15: A house located in Baba Farid Colony, Sahiwal, is at the centre of controversy and litigation is going on between two parties claiming its ownership.

Samiya Imran, wife of Muhammad Imran Khan, filed a case against Hafiz Ghulam Mohtada, Motorway police inspector, in the court of senior civil judge on July 6, 2006, for the vacation of her house.

Ms Imran, of Sahiwal, says she bought a one kanal plot in Baba Farid Colony in 2003. The plot was in the name of Samiya and the couple built a house there in 2004.

In Jan 2005, the couple rented out the house to Mohtada, then a senior petrol officer in Motorway Police, Rahim Yar Khan. The couple moved to Faisalabad where Imran is employed with a private mill.

She said that she sold her house to Muhammad Zafar Iqbal for Rs2.1 million on Feb 28, 2006. The couple received Rs200,000 in advance and the remaining sum was to be paid when they would hand over the possession to the buyer on July 2, 2006. They said they intimated Mohtada on April 30, 2006, about the deal asking him to vacate the house. He thrice promised to leave the house asked for extension in date. But on June 10, 2006, he refused to vacate the house and warned the couple to forget the house. The couple served a notice to the police officer through Ahmed Law Associates, Sahiwal, on June 24, 2006, which was received by his wife. But instead of vacating the house, Mr Mohtada with his two brothers Habibullah, a lawyer, and Mustafa, an employee of Punjab Cooperative Bank in Lahore, threatened the couple with consequences. Later, Mohtada was transferred to Punjab police, Faisalabad, and he handed over the house to his brother, Habib. Mohtada is now working at the security branch in Faisalabad.

The couple says Habib with the help of Ashfaq Ahmed, a stamp vender, arranged three forged stamp papers of Rs5,000 each and moved the senior civil judge court/rent controller seeking ownership of the house on the basis of these agreements. The case will be heard on Jan 23, 2008.

These agreements state that Habib gave Rs1.05 million to Ms Imran to buy the house on Oct 11, 2006. The total deal is done in Rs1.75 million. He says that he paid Rs1.05 million through a cheque of the Bank Al Habib on March 3, 2007.

Ms Imran says the bank confirmed that the account number which Habib mentioned never held such amount. She has also filed a case of forgery against Habib in the court.

The couple says Ashfaq, the stamp vender, is adept at arranging forged documents and he was booked in a case on Nov 13, 2006, at Kameer police station police for fraud. Interestingly, Habib is contesting the Feb 18 elections on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s ticket for PP-222.

Ms Imran alleges Mohtada harassed them by using the police force. On Aug 15, 2007, the Faisalabad additional district and sessions judge, hearing an appeal by Ms Imran, warned Mohtada not to harass her.

The deputy inspector general of Faisalabad also ordered an inquiry against Mohtada and inquiry team head Malik Khalid Shaheen found Ms Imran’s claims of harassing her right. Ms Imran says the “occupants” have not even paid the rent for two years.

Later on, two other inquiries into the matter were on the orders of the inspector general and senior traffic police officials. Both inquiries proved that the house belonged to Ms Imran while Habib was just an occupant. Since was matter was sub judice, the police did not take any action against Mohtada for helping his brother occupy the house. Ms Imran also holds an affidavit by the excise and taxation officer which states that Ms Imran, being the owner of the house, has been paying taxes since 2004.

When contacted, Mohtada said he had nothing to do with the matter.

“I am residing in Faisalabad with my family and am not responsible for my brother’s action,” he said. While Habib says the case would be decided by the court.

The intending buyer, Zafar, told Dawn, “I have given payment in advance to Ms Imran who has all legal documents of the property.”

The couple has not received the rent for the house for the last 20 months and awaiting the verdict of the court.

Ms Imran demanded senior police officials take action against Mohtada under section 155 of the Police Order 2002 which defines penalties for misconduct by a police officer.