GUJRAT: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) booked former superintendent of Gujranwala District Jail Azhar Javed Cheema along with six others for receiving bribe and misappropriating funds in a development project of the jail.

Apart from Cheema, former deputy superintendent of the jail Irfan Kamboh, executive engineer of the building department Shabeer Ahmed, sub-divisional officer Muhammad Ahmed, sub-engineer Hafiz Waqas, clerk Furqan Bhatti and contractor Sameeullah Mughal have also been booked in the case.

The case has been registered after a detailed inquiry held on the directions of Punjab ACE Director General Sohail Zafar Chatha. The suspects are accused of misappropriation of funds while the former jail superintendent and his deputy were also charged of receiving commission in the development schemes of the jail during their posting.

An ACE spokesman said a special team had started investigation into the case.

Azhar Cheema was earlier arrested by the ACE circle on Aug 20 in a case of defrauding an expatriate Pakistani of Rs45m. The ACE had recovered the amount from him and returned it to the complainant around a couple of weeks ago. The post-arrest bail application of the accused in that case was also dismissed by a Gujranwala court on Sept 29.

Meanwhile, the ACE Police Station booked nine officials of the land revenue department, including five tehsildars as well as the two stamp paper vendors, on charges of processing 984 bogus registration deeds in Ladhewala Warraich area of Gujranwala.

The case has been registered against four tehsildars, namely Sarfraz Ahmed Cheema, Altaf Hussain Tarrar, Arshad Dhullu and Imtiaz Sahi, as well as a naib tehsildar retired Capt Naseem, two patwaris, namely Bilal Butt and Mustafa Maan, two senior clerks of DC office, namely Parosh Manzoor Ahmed and two vendors of stamp papers Faisal Bhatti and Amanat Bhatti. The suspects had caused Rs115m loss to the national exchequer through processing of 984 fake registration deeds in Ladhewala Warraich.

According to the inquiry, the buyers and sellers of these properties had paid all their taxes for the transfer of ownership but these suspects did not deposit the amounts during the transaction process, causing a huge loss to the exchequer.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026