A female education officer fled the Provincial Anti-Corruption Court (PACC) shortly after her arrest order was issued by a special judge.
Hearing a bribery case against Town Education Officer (TEO) Shagufta Bibi on Friday, PACC special judge Iqbal Methlo cancelled the interim bail she had obtained on May 30 against a sum of Rs0.1 million.
The judge was told that an anti-corruption team had raided the suspect’s office in the presence of Judicial Magistrate-21 (East) and caught red-handed an office boy, Qamar Yaseen, who was collecting bribe on behalf of Shagufta Bibi.
Yaseen confessed to taking Rs50,000 bribe from Muhammad Mehdi, who had registered a case against the TEO concerned, the judge was told.
The counsel for complainant Mehdi, Advocate Khurram Abbas, asserted that the TEO had been victimising several retired employees of the Schools Education and Literacy Department in Malir.
“Her practice has been to receive huge amounts for issuance of the service books and other documents necessary for the former employees to get their pension and other dues,” the lawyer said.
Another witness, Muhammad Amir, had also recorded a statement against the accused woman, the judge was informed. The counsel referred to the case of Muhammad Amir who in his complaint registered with the Khokrapar police station alleged that his mother had sent him to the TEO for issuance of her service book, but Shagufta Bibi demanded a huge bribe to hand over the documents.
The judge concerned after hearing the arguments cancelled the suspect’s interim bail and ordered her arrest, but the directive could not be executed as the accused along with her husband Muhammad Zafar Iqbal immediately absconded from the court.
Dual citizenship case
A court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for former MPA Nadia Gabol and ex-MNA Farahnaz Ispahani after they once again did not show up at the hearing of the dual citizenships case.
The court ordered the investigation officer to assure the presence of the two former law makers at the next hearing on September 23.
The attorney for Ispahani said his ailing client was out of the country for medical treatment.
At a previous hearing on July 6, the court concerned had rejected the acquittal pleas filed by the two former lawmakers. At the following hearing on Aug 12, the judge concerned issued arrest warrants for them over their no-show.
The District and Sessions Judge (South) ordered the relevant authorities to arrest the two women and produce them before the court at the next hearing.
The court has been issuing notices to the two women but they did not appear before the court for a long time. Public prosecutor Advocate Maimoona argued that the two accused were adopting delaying tactics in order to avoid indictment.
The two women are facing a criminal case. They have stated that it was fair to acquit them from the charges since it had not been proved in the court that they had dual citizenships. They maintained that they did not have nationality of any other country except Pakistan.
It may be mentioned here that former federal minister and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Rehman Malik was also tried in this case but he was acquitted under Section 265-K after the conclusion of the trial.
The memberships of Nadia Gabol and Farahnaz Ispahani were suspended by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in July 2012.Nadia Gabol served as the provincial minister for human rights after she was elected as an Mutthida Qaumi Movement candidate. Later she joined the PPP and became advisor to the chief minister.
In its verdict on the dual nationality case, the apex court had disqualified 11 representatives, including Gabol and Ispahani, from being members of the Sindh Assembly and the National Assembly, respectively.
12-year-imprisonment
A court handed down 12-year-imprisonment to a banned outfit’s operative, Ahsan alias Hasni, who was arrested in 2016 in the Sohrab Goth area.
The convict along with his accomplices was planning to carry out terrorist activities. However, his associates had managed to make a getaway when the man was arrested during a police encounter. The court also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the convict, who is said to be an Afghan citizen.
Interim bail
The PACC hearing a fraud case granted interim bail to former mukhtiar-kaar Zulfiqar Ali Abbasi in the sum of Rs50,000.
The court ordered the suspect to ensure his presence at the next hearing on September 25 for getting his bail confirmed. Abbasi is accused of illegally transferring four acres of lands in Safoora Goth to three men, namely Ehtehamul Hauqe, Amjad Ali and Waqar, in 2004.
Plea against KE, KWSB
A court fixed September 25 to examine an application moved by Advocate Shafeeq Butto requesting the court to register cases against the K-Electric and the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) authorities allegedly responsible for the deaths of four men due to electrocution in the area of Shershah police station on September 1.
The District and Sessions Judge (West) has issued notice to the Shershah SHO ordering him to file comments on the plea holding the power utility and water board officials responsible for the deaths of Shabbir Jan, Arshad, Nawaz and Akhtar. The KWSB officials concerned have also been asked to file comments on the application.