NAWABSHAH: A court on Tuesday extended the physical remand of a former deputy director of finance of the Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology (Quest), Nawabshah, for two more days in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

He has been accused of embezzling Rs35 million meant for purchasing of various items.

The suspect, Qamaruddin Sheikh, was produced before the judicial magistrate-II in connection with the embezzlement of the Higher Education Commission’s funds amounting to Rs35 million. The court remanded him for two more days to the FIA’s custody for further interrogation.

The investigation officer of FIA’s Composite Circle, Shaheed Benazirabad, Saeed Ahmed Chandio, told reporters that they had recovered some of the relevant records, while additional documents were being sought from the university registrar.

Meanwhile, Pradeep Kumar and Nadeem Arain, both professors and co-accused in the case, obtained bail from the high court in Sukkur.

On July 16, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Composite Circle Shaheed Benazirabad registered an FIR (No. 7/2025) under Sections 409, 468, 471, 34, 109 of Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5(2) of PCA 1947 against Nadeem Soomro, the then deputy director procurement of the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) and external member of the procurement committee, Qamaruddin Shaikh, the then deputy director finance of Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology (Quest), Nawabshah; Professor Pradeep Kumar, the then chairman of the software engineering department, MUET; Assistant Professor Adnan Ahmed Arain of the telecom­munication department; Prof Abdul Nasir Leghari, chairman of the environmental engineering department; Sajjad Ahmed Memon, the then project coordinator of Quest, and two contractors namely Azhar Ali and Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

A written complaint in the FIA was lodged back in 2022.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2025