50 booked over attempt to grab nine-acre land of expat Pakistani

LAHORE: Police Friday registered a case against around 50 people for allegedly kidnapping the employees of an expatriate and grabbing the family land in Kahna.

An expatriate, Sohaib Khursheed, lodged a complaint with the police that his sister-in-law, Mehreen Chaudhry, was constructing a farmhouse on nine-acre land of the family in Kahna Nau area. He said two rooms and the boundary wall had been constructed. However, he stated, when the construction was under way, around 50 armed men including Muhammad Awais, Muhammad Haseeb, Muhammad Shoaib, Adil Sindhu, etc., attacked the farmhouse late Thursday night. He said the armed men held the servants -- Momin Shah and Abidullah -- at gunpoint and demolished the newly constructed wall and the two rooms, causing a loss of over Rs2 million. They also took away generators, sanitary items, floor tiles and furniture worth Rs2 million from the site.

The complainant said the accused tortured the servants, kidnapped them and later set them free at a deserted place after snatching their belongings and the identity cards.

The complainant said the accused were trying to grab their land, and demanded registration of a case and strict action against the attackers. Kahna police registered a case under sections 365, 148, 149, 427, 380, 448, and 511 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

It was a second attempt to grab the land, as a case was also registered against the accused earlier. Former Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh had taken the notice of the previous land grabbing attempt and had got it vacated from the land grabbers.