Court orders arrest of 16 absconders in LARP case

Karachi An accountability court on Saturday issued orders to arrest some 16 co-accused of Farid Ahmed Yousufani, the former director of the Lines Area Resettlement Project, who has been charged with corruption to the tune of Rs5 billion, and issued orders for producing the absconding accused in court on December

By our correspondents
November 22, 2015
Karachi
An accountability court on Saturday issued orders to arrest some 16 co-accused of Farid Ahmed Yousufani, the former director of the Lines Area Resettlement Project, who has been charged with corruption to the tune of Rs5 billion, and issued orders for producing the absconding accused in court on December 5.
Yousufani is being tried with five others, including Atta Abbas, Tahir and Jameel Durrani, and four of these suspects have obtained bail.
The investigation officer told the court that 16 co-accused were absconding and efforts were being made to arrest them. The court issued orders for arresting all the absconding accused and producing them in court on December 5.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested Yousufani in August for alleged illegal allotment of land to builders and land grabbers. He has also been charged with conducting 'China-cutting' of the land, a term often used for illegal plotting and sale of state land.
The investigators claim the money collected from land grabbing and illegal sale was being used for funding terrorism.
According to NAB, the key accused has confessed to his involvement and that of many former administrators of the Karachi Development Authority and officials of the revenue department, who, according to Yousufani, have earned billions of rupees in assets.

Gangsters remanded
An anti-terrorism court remanded two Lyari gangsters, Usman and Suleman alias Saloo, to the Rangers under 90-day preventive detention.
The two accused were produced before Sindh High Court Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, the acting administrative judge for anti-terrorism courts.
A law officer requested the court to approve the apprehension letter issued under Section 11-EEEE of the Pakistan Protection Act for 90-day detention of the two gangsters.
The court was informed that the suspects had been arrested in the Chakiwara area of Lyari and they were allegedly involved in cases of target killings and extortion. The court approved the request and remanded the two suspects to Rangers’ custody.

MQM man remanded
Another anti-terrorism court granted the physical remand of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker, Imtiaz alias Lamba, to police till December 12. Lamba is being tried for the alleged murder of a policeman Asghar in 2008 within the remit of Saudabad police station.

NBWs issued
In another case, an anti-terrorism court issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest of Shahid Bikik with orders to produce him in court on November 30. Shahid has been booked in three cases lodged in the Gulberg police station for alleged possession of explosive material and illegal arms.