NBWs out for four ‘China-cutting’ accused

An Accountability Court (AC), on Friday, issued non-bailable warrants of arrest (NBWs) against Shakir alias Shaki Langra, Arif Khan and other accused of carrying out land grabbing through ‘China-cutting’.

The court had decided to try five accused of which four were absconding, while one accused - former Karachi Development Authority (KDA) additional director Muhammad Nasir Sheikh - was under detention.

The court was to hear the case on December 5 against the accused who were said to have caused a loss of over Rs16 million to the national exchequer. The accused were claimed to be associated with a certain political party.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested two directors of the development authority in November last year in a bid to apprehend land grabbers and involved in selling land through ‘China-cutting’.

The bureau identified the suspects as former KDA director Abdul Qavi Khan, director KDA master plan Rashid Aqeel, and additional director Muhammad Nasir Sheikh, besides a private individual Anjum Jameel Siddiqui. 

It was said an inquiry unearthed names of two prime suspects of land grabbing, Muhammad Mujeebullah Siddiqui and Faisal Masroor Siddiqui, who were already in custody. 

As per the disclosures made by the under-detention accused, names of the other four facilitators came to light, who were later arrested. 

The KDA directors and additional director were allegedly involved in illegal construction and sale and purchase of plots in a housing scheme named ‘University Hill Villas’ located in Block 1 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Scheme-36 of KDA, and also on land reserved for water conduit and high-tension transmission lines of the K-Electric.   Later, Sheikh was identified as a close associate of Shakir and other absconding accused.