MULTAN: Rajanpur police have registered a case against Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani and his father Pervez Iqbal Gorchani for allegedly kidnapping a transporter.

The city police registered the case under section 447/442, 382/148 and 149/ on the Lahore High Court (Multan bench) order on the plea of Jahanzeb Khan Dreshak alias Chand Khan.

The complainant, elected nazim of Jahanpur Union Council, stated that he was allotted 10 shops in the General Bus Stand area by the Rajanpur Tehsil Municipal Administration under an agreement.

Rajanpur bus stand contract bone of contention

He said meanwhile Sher Ali Gorchani was elected as MPA from Jampur and both father and son were annoyed with him for he was in their opposition camp.

“After being elected, the Gorchanis started demanding their share from my bus stand earnings,” he said.

Dreshak said over his refusal the MPA threatened him with dire consequences and on Dec 21, 2008, both father and son along with their 30 accomplices reached the bus stand. To support them, policemen, including SHOs of various police stations namely Chaudhry Azhar, Maher Farooq, Ghulam Akbar Chandia, Malik Ghulam Nabi, Khalid Saleem and Ghulam Shabir also reached there and occupied the shops and looted goods.

He said to protect their crime, the accused got registered a fake against him to bar him from adopting any legal course.

Dreshak said he managed bail from the sessions court on Dec 22, 2008. He said Jan 9, 2009, was the next hearing date but the accused police officials took him into custody from his house on Dec 24.

He said he was recovered by a sessions court bailiff the same day and was produced before the court where the police stated that he was not wanted in any case.

He said as he left the court along with his lawyers, the police once again detained him and shifted him to the Lalgarh police check-post.

He said he was tied with a tree in cold whether where he was subjected to torture by both father and son, asking him to accept their demand to withdraw from the shops and bus stand otherwise he would be killed in an encounter or be handed over to notorious dacoit Murida Lukkani.

He said one of his relatives again moved the court against police and court appointed a bailiff for his recovery that conducted raids at various police stations of the district but could not recover him. He said police freed him later when local bar passed a resolution against his disappearance.

Dreshak finally filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, Multan Bench, which directed the police to register his FIR. He said the LHC passed the order thrice when police ignored its directions.

Reacting, Gorchani said Dreshak was a notorious personality of the district and there were over 18 cases against him even before his becoming a member of the Punjab Assembly.

“He is an extortionist and property grabber. Transporters of the area had sought my help against his wrongdoings,” he said.

Gorchani said after police arrested Dreshak in a case lodged by a transporter, he got managed his recovery through bailiff.

He said the shops were allotted to Dreshak illegally by his cousin Khalilur Rehman Dreshak who was tehsil nazim. He said Dreshak had never got the contract of bus stand through auction.

Gorchani said he was not aware when Dreshak filed a writ petition and on July 25, he received a phone call of the DG Khan Regional Police Officer who informed him about the petition and the court order for lodging the case.

“No FIR could be lodged against any MPA without getting prior permission from the speaker of the Punjab Assembly but the police registered the case,” he said.

He said that both the RPO and the DPO would be held answerable for lodging the FIR in an illegal way.

Answering a question, Gorchani said his younger brother was also in transport business and he obtained a bus stand contract through open auction at a cost of Rs2.6 million. He also won a contract of the Jampur bus stand, he said.

He said he had sent a complaint against police to the chief minister.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016