LAHORE: The owner of Theme Park, an illegal housing scheme established in the Ravi riverbed, has reportedly agreed to return the amounts to the buyers who were never delivered plots, but refused to compensate thousands of others whose houses have been badly damaged by floodwater.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), earlier this month, had arrested Khushi Muhammad, the owner of Theme Park, on charges of defrauding innocent people on the pretext of selling them plots in his housing society.

“Over 300 people filed claims against the Theme Park for the money they had deposited with the scheme, ranging between Rs300,000 to Rs700,000, to get plots. However, they could not be given plots for which Khushi Muhammad was arrested,” an official source told Dawn on Thursday.

He said the scheme owner, in the ACE custody, agreed to return the amounts to these claimants. However, he declined to compensate thousands of flood victims residing in his housing society.

The suspect, arrested by ACE, refuses to compensate flood-hit residents of illegal scheme

As the river Ravi witnessed a massive flood after 37 years, the Theme Park was completely inundated. Khushi Muhammad had built this illegal housing scheme in the riverbed, developed residential plots on 12,000 kanals and sold them fraudulently, the ACE said.

“The suspect had not developed the society as per law and even couldn’t build its sewerage system since the entire area was in the riverbed. Therefore, all the houses in the illegal housing scheme were submerged by the floodwater,” the ACE said.

The ACE has also sought the record of all illegal housing schemes established in the Ravi bed from the River Urban Development Authority (Ruda) and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) so that action could be taken against such schemes as per the law. However, the ACE has yet to initiate action against any of the housing schemes built illegally in the riverbed.

“Theme Park is also likely to avert any legal action after returning amounts to the claimants,” the source says, adding that the scheme was not approved by any of the relevant departments.

A source says Khushi Muhammad was a police constable before he launched the Theme Park project on a small piece of land. “By exploiting the loopholes in the system and greasing the palms of the officials concerned in different departments, he continued acquiring more land in the riverbed and sold the same to the people. He also managed to transfer billions of rupees abroad,” the source says.

Interestingly, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which usually initiates action against fraudulent housing societies, appears to be a silent spectator in this case.

Billions of rupees of residents have been lost in various housing schemes and katchi abadis after floodwater entered their houses and business premises in Lahore. This area falls under the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project, being executed on a 46km-long stretch along the river Ravi by RUDA.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2025