Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed the former senior superintendent of police (SSP) to satisfy it with regards to maintainability of his petition calling for an inquiry against SSP Malir Rao Anwar for allegedly stashing ill-gotten billions abroad.

Erstwhile SSP Niaz Khoso, whose son was allegedly been detained by the SSP Malir petitioned the high court seeking its directives for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to conduct an inquiry against SSP Rao for transferring Rs 85 billions from Pakistan to other countries illegally.

During preliminary hearing, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar asked the petitioner to satisfy it as to whether the petition was maintainable. However, he sought some time to debate the legal point.

The court adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed by the court office later.

This was his second petition leveling grave allegations against SSP Rao. Earlier Khoso had taken SSP Rao to the court for allegedly kidnapping his son Mehrab Khan, a sub-inspector of anti-encroachment force, from near Bahria Town on March 28.

In the present petition, Khoso submitted that SSP Rao had accumulated ill-gotten billions through illegal means, including land grabbing, china cutting, and money laundering, during his posting as the Malir SSP.

The assets in the name of his family members and his lifestyle were incompatible with his legitimate source of income, he said. Presenting his travel record, he added that SS Rao had traveled abroad 89 times from Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport from May 2012 to Feb 2017.

The petitioner pleaded the judges to direct the NAB chairman and director general to order an inquiry into the alleged illegal gains of SSP Rao and others under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance 1999.

He also requested the court to direct the interior ministry to place SSP Rao’s name on the Exit Control List since he had assets in the United Kingdom and Dubai so he may try to flee the investigation”.

Meanwhile, another bench issued notices to the respondents – education secretary, culture, tourism and antiquity department, IG Sindh, and Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA)’s director general on a petition seeking inquiry into demolition of a heritage building in Soldier Bazaar.

Amity International through its president, Mehfooz Yar Khan filed the petition submitting that he learnt on April 10 that SBCA officials with the help of local police demolished the heritage building by using heavy machinery. Subsequently, the government announced Rs30 million for restoration of the building.

The petitioner apprehended that if a proper inquiry through a commission was not carried out into the incident, the real culprits could go off scot-free.