FAISALABAD, Nov 19: Following reports of sodomy with a detained trader allegedly at the behest of the Chak Jhumra assistant commissioner, the district government has decided to get DNA tests conducted in all such cases before taking action against its officials.

This was decided in the backdrop of a case registered against AC Qaiser Abbas Rind, Chak Jhumra SHO Afzal Lali and more than 37 others on charges of sodomising a trader, Muhammad Usman, who had been arrested by the police on July 25.

The case had been registered on the orders of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anwarul Haq on Nov 16, more than four months after the incident.

Talking to Dawn, District Coordiantion Officer Noorul Amin Mengal said during preliminary investigation it had been established that the AC and his subordinates were being falsely implicated in the case. He said the people behind the case were known land mafia of the area and the AC had moved to retrieve state land from them.

He said the AC had retrieved land worth millions of rupees encroached upon by the people who had got the case registered. The case had only been registered to pressurise the officers from moving against the land mafia and the people involved in other crimes, he added.

The DCO said now a legal procedure had been developed and would be sent to all the officials concerned to get DNA tests conducted in response to allegations of sodomy. And if the test turned out positive, the guilty officer would have to face the music, he said.

He said the police had started its own investigation and the government would move against the applicant if the allegations were found baseless.

To a query that a medical examination had confirmed sodomy, the DCO said it was yet to be ascertained if sodomy was done by a government official or the applicant had used tactics to get a favourable report. He said samples sent by doctors to the lab would clear the accused.

The accused AC told Dawn the FIR registered against him and his subordinates was concocted and beyond reality. He said the land mafia had been encroaching upon eight to 15 feet of state land in Jhumra main bazaar. Similarly, traders were also involved in temporary encroachment worth millions of rupees, he said.

He said prior to the anti-encroachment operation on July 25, the TMA had issued notices to traders warning them to vacate the land. After the deadline lapsed, the operation had been launched after approval of then DCO Najam Shah.

During the operation, he said Mohammad Rehan, brother of the alleged sodomy victim, had forcibly stopped employees from working and subsequently the police had been called. A case was also registered against the traders with the Jhumra police with no arrest.

He said local MPA Afzal Sahi had intervened and both parties had reached a settlement. However, he said even after resolving the issue, they had got the case registered in retaliation to the operation.TMA officials were only being pressurised to stop them from launching another operation against the permanent encroachments on state land costing millions of rupees, he added.