KARACHI: An anti-corruption court sentenced on Thursday two former officials of the Karachi Building Control Authority to five years in prison in a land scam case.

Former district controller of buildings Ghulam Mohammad Durrani and assistant controller of buildings Mohammad Arshad were found guilty of illegally allotting an amenity plot in Ranchhore Lane in 1980 on the basis of fake documents to one Najamunnisa (now dead) and approving its layout plan for construction.

The court acquitted co-accused Hameedullah Sheikh, a former director of KBCA, and Niaz Yousuf, son of Najamunnisa, for want of evidence.

The judge of the special provincial anticorruption court, Gulshan Ara Chandio, also imposed on the convicts a fine of Rs500,000 each and ordered that in case of default of payment the convicts would have to spend an additional year in prison.

A case was registered against the accused at the anti-corruption establishment under Sections 217 (public servant disobeying direction of law with intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 477 (fraudulent cancellation, destruction, etc. of will, authority to adopt or valuable security), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5(2) the Prevention of Corruption Act.

ATC dismisses pleas for transfer of Hamza murder case

An antiterrorism court dismissed on Thursday an application seeking transfer to a regular court of the murder case of Hamza Ahmed who was allegedly gunned down by the guard of his friend and schoolmate Mohammad Shoaib after the friends had a heated argument over a girl in Defence Housing Authority in April last year.

The Defence counsel had challenged the jurisdiction of the court by moving an application under Section 23 (power to transfer cases to regular courts) of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

After hearing both sides, the judge Saleem Raza Baloch of the ATC-III dismissed the application and observed that the crime took place during daytime, a young victim was killed in a brutal manner and the offence took place in an open area of DHA near a café and apparently it generated a sense of fear and insecurity among people.

The court had dismissed a similar application in May but the defence side had then moved the Sindh High Court which set aside the trial court’s order and asked it to decide the jurisdiction of the case within 10 days.

According to the prosecution, Shoaib, his driver Mushtaq and security official Mohammad Idrees were charge-sheeted under Section 212 (harbouring accused) of the Pakistan Penal Code and security guard Amal Khan, who was an absconder, was named as alleged shooter.

A case was lodged against the accused at Darakhshan police station under Sections 302 (punishment for premeditated murder), 109 (abetment), 34 (common intention) of the PPC read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014