MULTAN: An anti-corruption court on Saturday handed down total 31-year jail term to a patwari and his three accomplices, besides slapping a hefty fine of Rs30.6 million on the accused in a fraud and corruption case.

The case was registered against Patwari Shahid Yousaf and his accomplices Nawaz, Imran and Faryad Gujjar on January 8, 2019, with Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Khanewal for tampering with the ownership documents (fard-i-milkiyat) of 720 kanal and 17 marla land, showing Saleem Yaseen and Naheed Akhtar as fake owners.

The land was fraudulently sold to complainant Malik Muhammad Amjad for Rs69 million, while an additional amount of Rs10 million was received from him as government dues.

The challan of the case was submitted in the court by the ACE and the court issued the summons of the accused on September 8, 2020.

On Saturday, Special Judge Asif Majeed Awan announced the verdict against the accused, who had already been declared proclaimed offenders for not appearing before the court.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2021