GUJRAT: The city’s Lorry Adda police have booked three persons for illegally occupying a sports gymnasium at Nawaz Sharif Park, extorting money from visitors and committing power theft amounting to Rs0.5 million during the last six months.

The case against the suspects has been registered on the complaint of Gujrat Municipal Corporation (GtMC) that owns the park.

GtMC Enforcement Inspector Imtiaz Mughal in the complaint said the suspects, Liaqat Ali Butt, Farrukh Shah and Arfan Akram, illegally occupied the gymnasium at the public park and started charging hefty fees from the visitors.

The suspects, he said, used the government property for their personal business and were allegedly also involved in electricity theft worth around Rs0.5m from the park’s official connection.

The police have registered a case against the suspects under sections 386, 462 (1), 447, 511, 420 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and started investigation.

None of the suspects could be arrested so far despite raids conducted by the police.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2025