TOBA TEK SINGH: An inquiry by the Faisalabad Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has confirmed ‘fraudulent’ allotment of 60 kanals of state land owned by the Evacuee Trust Board in Jhang, involving PTI MNA Sheikh Waqas Akram.

Faisalabad ACE Director Kanwar Khalid, in a press conference, announced that the ACE had registered a case under sections 409, 420, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 5-2-47.

According to the FIR, a fake death certificate for the original allottee, Ghulam Fatima, was used to transfer the land to her nephew Fateh Muhammad in 2014. This was done with the involvement of officials -- Tehsildar Muhammad Faiz Naul and Patwari Ghazanfar Tharaj. The land was later fraudulently transferred to Sheikh Waqas Akram, his family members and others.

The FIR states that fraud accused Fateh Muhammad who was not authorised to sell land, transferred the land to Sheikh Waqas Akram, his brother Sheikh Nawaz Akram, father Sheikh Muhammad Akram (now PTI MPA) and mother Yasmin Akram.

The ACE director further claimed that another inquiry also against Sheikh Waqas Akram had proved that he unlawfully grabbed 200 kanals on Gojra Road at Jhang through his front man, Sheikh Tariq, who later illegally developed a housing scheme on it with the name of Makkah Town although this land was given to him by the government for setting up milk factory or for agriculture purpose.

ACCIDENTS: Road accidents claimed multiple lives on Friday.

A motorcycle collision with a truck on Sargodha Road, Jhang, left Nasim Bibi, 60, dead and her husband critically injured.

In Faisalabad, a truck overturned on Makkuana-Khurrianwala Road due to dense fog, causing a mini-truck collision that crushed a truck driver to death.

Meanwhile, the body of a 16-year-old boy, Habib, was retrieved from Jhang Branch Canal after he jumped into the canal following a quarrel with his parents.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2024