KARACHI, Oct 13: The Sindh High Court disposed of on Monday a petition moved by a Tessori family elder against harassment and alleged registration of bogus cases.

Petitioner Zaitoon Begum, mother-in-law of Akhtar Khan Tessori and grandmother of Kamran Tessori, alleged that the members of the family were being pursued by personnel of investigation agencies in order to involve them in false cases.

The police and anti-corruption establishment were out to register cases against them. Kamran Tessori was kidnapped from his business premises in June and taken to Badin.

He was released after being kept in unlawful confinement for some days. If there were any inquiries or cases against the members of the Tessori family, they should be ordered to be placed on record so that they were not involved in bogus FIRs or nominated in blind cases.

Police officers belonging to several towns and districts appeared and denied the allegations. Only the district police officer of Badin brought on record two FIRs lawfully registered against Akhtar Khan. The ACE said no inquiries were being conducted against the members of the family with mala fide intentions.

They said they would act strictly in accordance with the law in dealing with the petitioner’s family.

A bench comprising Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Qamaruddin Bohra, which heard the petition after the summer vacation, disposed of the petition after recording the statements.

54 cases dismissed

Another division bench consisting of Justices Mohammad Athar Saeed and Qamaruddin Bohra dismissed all 54 references filed by the customs department against the Pakistan State Oil for recovery of Rs42.3 million in unpaid duties.

PSO counsel Aziz A. Shaikh argued that the show-cause notices issued by the department did not specifically allege “misdeclaration” or collusion in order to attract penal provisions of Section 32 of the Customs Act. They were barred by time and the PSO could at worst be charged with short payments, for which an additional six months could be given for clearance.

‘Karo kari’ case

Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali restrained the police from arresting Mst Benazir and her husband, who had been declared ‘karo kari’ for marrying of their free will and against the wishes of their families. Two cases have been registered by the Pano Aqil police on complaints lodged by their relatives.

The CJ directed the Sukkur police chief to provide protection to the couple and ask the investigation officers concerned to submit their preliminary reports in the court on Oct 16.

Bail plea rejected

The CJ, meanwhile, rejected the bail plea of Bashir Khaskheli of Jiay Sindh Mahaz and his brother, Wasay Khaskheli, in an attempt to murder case. They are alleged to have made a murderous assault on their rivals in a land dispute.

Remanded

The Sindh High Court administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts of Karachi, Justice Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, remanded in police custody on Monday the three accused arrested in cases of kidnapping for ransom on Sunday.

Saeed Jan and Gul Badin, both said to be Afghan nationals, and former Sindh Police constable Muhammad Ayub, had so far been arrested in a case alleging kidnapping of Taj Mohammad of Gulshan-i-Iqbal in September 2007. They are alleged to have received Rs6.5 million as ransom for his release.

According to the police, the accused had links with outlawed organizations, which were the ultimate recipients of the ransom amounts. The police are said to have got their bank deposits amounting to Rs25 million frozen.

The accused were brought to the court in the afternoon amid stringent security and were remanded in physical custody till October 20.