Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the provincial inspector general of Police AD Khawaja and the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) director general Karachi to ensure that former district account officer Hyderabad Sikandar Ali Abro and his family members were not harassed in any manner.

A division bench was hearing a petition of Abro seeking the court’s directives to the corruption watchdog officials who were allegedly harassing him in respect to an inquiry pertaining to embezzlement.

The petitioner submitted that some of his sub-ordinates had embezzled the government funds in 2011 on which the NAB had initiated the inquiry against him and others but the later the SHC restrained the bureau from taking any corrective action against him.

Eventually, the trial court cleared me from all the charges in 2013 but now assistant director NAB Karachi, Sarvaish Shaikh, and other officials were harassing him in respect to another inquiry.

Abro added that Sarvaish Shaikh along with other officials and a private person namely Iqbal Channa who was pretending himself as director intelligence NAB Sukkur had intercepted him near Sea View on midnight of 17th and 18th November and kept him in illegal detention. The above-mentioned persons had demanded Rs10million as ransom from me and threatened for dire consequences, he added.

“Some persons including Sarvaish Shaikh had raided my house on 19th November and took me away without showing any arrest warrant. On the very next day, I was produced before the accountability court Hyderabad which granted my physical remand in another corruption case which was baseless,” the petitioner added.

Impleading NAB Chairman, DG NAB Sindh and others as the respondents, the petitioner prayed to the court to declare his arrest as illegal. The court was further requested to direct the DIG South Karachi to lodge FIR of the incident at concerned police Station whether it be PS Saahil or Darakhshan and appoint honest officer for the investigation.

At the outset of the hearing, SP (Legal) Habib Khan SHO Darkhshan police station appeared before the court, stating that they were ready to record statement of the petitioner and do the needful in the light of the said statement.

The court directed the SHO to record the statement of the petitioner and submit compliance report on the next date.

The bench also asked the IGP and DG NAB Karachi to ensure that Abro, his wife or any of his family members were not harassed or intimidated in any manner by the NAB officials, or else appropriate order will be passed against the delinquent officers.

Later, the hearing was adjourned till December 22.

It was pertinent to mention here that NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had taken notice of the incident and suspended Sarvesh Shaikh, Acting Deputy Director NAB Karachi and ordered inquiry against him for demanding bribe from the citizens.

“The inquiry team has already reached Karachi and initiated the inquiry,” a NAB press release read.

Published in Daily Times, December 15^th 2017.