FIA arrests ETPB inspector for fraudulently selling state land

NOWSHERA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday arrested an official of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), Peshawar office, for allegedly selling the state land fraudulently, sources said.

The sources said Abdul Waheed, son of, Abdul Siddique, a resident of Shafi Building, Nowshera Cantonment, lodged a complaint with the FIA in Islamabad. The complainant said that an inspector of the ETPB, Syed Assadullah Shah, had received Rs3.1 million from him to transfer in his name the state land. The land is owned by the ETPB and sited near the Amann Garh Police Line. The Khasra Nos are 447-448.

Abdul Waheed said that the ETPB inspector received the amount from him in two installments of Rs 2million and 1.1million, respectively, and told him that the land had been sold out to him.

Abdul Waheed said the ETPB inspector would become evasive when he would demand ownership documents. He said the ETPB inspector gave him a judicial bond (stamp paper) where he had acknowledged having received the amount. The complainant said later he came to know that ETPB inspector took Rs3.1million from him fraudulently and never transferred the land in his name. He said the land is owned by the ETPB which is a federal government entity.

“When I insisted on the return of my money, the ETPB inspector flatly refused to do the needful. I had no option but to move the FIA. The Crime Branch of the FIA in Peshawar registered a case against the accused under,” he elaborated.

The FIA team took action and arrested the ETPB Inspector Syed Assad Ali Shah. The accused was produced in a court of law and his three days physical remand obtained. The initial grilling the accused confessed that he had received amounts in the past for wrongly allotting the state-owned land.