KARACHI, Dec 8: The chief controller of the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) has suspended eight officials of the Authority for demanding illegal gratification and unlawfully causing damage to furniture of a fastfood restaurant.

The KBCA chief, Brig A. S. Nasir (retired), took the action following a complaint that some KBCA officials had caused damage to the furniture of a fastfood restaurant in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and had also sealed the restaurant after its employees refused to pay bribe to them.

The restaurant’s officials had informed Brig Nasir that some KBCA officials had threatened them to either pay bribe to them or they would get the restaurant’s renovation work stopped by declaring it illegal.

When the restaurant’s employees did not oblige the KBCA officials, the latter not only damaged the restaurant’s furniture but also sealed it.

The KBCA chief came to know, during an initial inquiry, that the KBCA officials had, on the one hand, not obtained any permission for carrying out any demolition work and, on the other, tarnished the image of the KBCA by asking for illegal gratification.

He has appointed the KBCA’s officer on special duty, Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, inquiry officer to investigate the matter.

The officials who were suspended are Mushtaq Soomro (assistant controller, buildings); Nazarul Hasnain Mohammedi and Rashid Hussain (assistant controllers, demolition), building inspector Tanveer; and Hussain Bakhsh, Nazim, Swaliheen and Dawar (coolies).