Man sentenced to two-year jail term in car sale scam

A local court on Friday sentenced a man to two-year imprisonment for his involvement in a car sale scam.

Khalid Noor was found guilty of defrauding Muhammad Shah Zar of over Rs1.2 million after tricking him into a car deal through an online advertisement in 2021.

Judicial Magistrate (Central) Asadullah Memon pronounced his order after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides, ruling that the prosecution successfully established its case against the accused.

He handed down two-year rigorous imprisonment to the convict for offence punishable under the Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Pakistan Penal Code and ordered him to pay a Rs50,000 fine as well. In case of failure to pay the fine, he would have to undergo an additional one month imprisonment.

The magistrate noted that he did not find any mitigating circumstances in this case and more so, the act of the accused appeared to be "the financial murder of the complainant".

"In this case, from the evidence available on record, it is proved that the accused Khalid Noor had dishonestly induced the complainant and took the handsome amount from him through online transactions deposited in his account, therefore, the accused has deceived the complainant, committed cheating and committed forgery for purpose of cheating," observed the magistrate.

He observed that the accused intentionally deceived the complainant, resulting in a wrongful gain for himself and wrongful loss to the complainant.

According to the prosecution, the complainant lodged an FIR at the Sir Syed police station stating that he saw an online advertisement for the sale of a Suzuki Swift car, which included the phone number of a person named Amjad. Upon contact, Amjad informed him that the vehicle had already been sold but asked him to visit an office where other cars were available.

The complainant then visited the office in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, where he met a person named Noman and agreed to purchase a Suzuki Swift for Rs1.4 million.

On Oct 27, 2021, Amjad called again, asking which vehicle he preferred, providing the victim with the phone number of the accused, Noor. After speaking with Noor, the deal was finalised and the accused asked Zar to transfer Rs290,000 online, which he did.

On October 28, the complainant transferred an additional Rs985,000 to Noor’s account.

After these transactions, the accused switched off his phone, and the car was never delivered to Zar. The court has already declared absconding accomplice Amjad a proclaimed offender.

State Prosecutor Sultana Naqvi argued that the prosecution had fully proved its case against the accused with documentary evidence. She added that the accused committed fraud along with his absconding accomplice, depriving the complainant of a handsome amount through online transactions.

On the other hand, the defense counsel argued that there were material contradictions in the depositions of the prosecution witnesses, adding that documentary evidence had been fabricated by the prosecution.