Jufelhurst school case IO fails to submit final charge sheet

Rebuking the case investigation officer (IO) for not submitting the final charge sheet against several men accused of involvement in the demolition of the Jufelhurst Government School (JGS), the judge of the Provincial Anti-Corruption Court (PACC) hearing the case ordered the IO to submit without fail the final charges at the next hearing on September 20.

The judge noted that all the accused were present for Wednesday’s hearing but no concrete proceedings could be possible because the IO had not submitted the final charge sheet. Reprimanding the IO, the judge ordered the officer to make sure that the charge sheet was filed at the next hearing.

The court had passed similar directives earlier too and called for a charge sheet against all those accused of involvement in demolishing part of the heritage building on April 9 this year.

In May, the court had accepted an interim charge sheet against five people accused of demolishing the school building in a bid to encroach upon the land.

Anti-corruption inspector Imtiaz Channa, who was also an IO in the school demolition case, had submitted a report informing the court about fulfilment of his duty to interrogate and record the statements of the seven accused.

The IO was assigned by the PACC that had also ordered the relevant prison authorities to hand over the custody of the seven suspects allegedly involved in the demolition. The court had also granted bail to an accused, Zeeshan Ali, allegedly involved in two cases pertaining to charges of demolition and fake ownership issue. 

The court, after hearing the arguments tendered by Advocate Fawad Ali Kachi on behalf of Zeeshan Ali, deemed it fit to grant bail in the sum of Rs100,000 each in the two cases.

FIA Inspector Adnan Ali, then Soldier Bazaar SHO Irshad Ahmed and contractor Ameen are also among the accused, almost all of whom are out on bail.

Adnan Ali, Irshad Ahmed, ASI Hakim Ali, builder Sajjad Bashir, contractor Ameen, surveyor Ghulam Fareed and former mukhtiarkar Ahmed Memon are alleged to have colluded in the plot to demolish the historical school building that had been declared a heritage site. A case against the suspects was registered by the school’s headmaster, Muhammad Shafiq.