A judicial magistrate in Karachi has remanded Malir Development Authority (MDA) finance and accounts director Waqas Ali Soomro and his alleged accomplice, Muhammad Yamin Soomro, in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) custody for five days.
The two are accused of preparing fake bank challans with counterfeit bank stamps for the allotment of plots. Investigation officer Syed Bilal Ali produced the suspects before Judicial Magistrate (East) Gulraiz Memon and sought 14 days of physical remand for interrogation. The court granted five days.
The IO told the court that an FIA Commercial Bank Circle team acted on source information that the suspects were sitting in a Vigo near Chandni Park in the Old Sabzi Mandi area, where they were allegedly collecting payment against forged property files. The team reached the location and found the two men inside the vehicle.
A search of the vehicle recovered mobile phones, Rs20 million in cash, bank stamps, MDA plot files and an NOC to apply for a Schengen visa, the IO said. He added that the phones contained messages about forgery using fake stamps and seals, which indicated the suspects were involved in preparing forged bank challans.
“Based on disclosures of the detainees corroborated by presence of several audio/text messages on WhatsApp as well as tangible recovery of bank stamps/seals and property files/documents it is prima facie evident that the detainees are engaged in forging documents related to banks,” the IO said. He said the concerned banks would be asked to confirm the findings during the investigation, and the results would be included in the charge sheet.
According to the IO, Waqas admitted during interrogation that he is a Sindh government employee working as director of finance and accounts at the MDA. He said Yamin works as a driver in the parks department of Town Municipal Corporation Korangi.
Waqas also allegedly disclosed that he prepared forged bank challans with fake stamps and submitted them to the MDA for plot allotments in several schemes, including Scheme-33, Scheme-45, Taiser Town and Shah Latif Town. The IO said he further admitted that the recovered cash was payment received for selling forged plot files.
The IO asked the court for 14 days of remand to interrogate the suspects about their accomplices and gather more evidence. The magistrate approved five days.
