05-07-2025
Court grants physical remand
ISLAMABAD: A local court on Friday granted a two-day physical remand of three former senior officials of Pakistan Railways' construction wing – Railcop – accused of issuing fake bank guarantees amounting to more than Rs1.16 billion.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)'s Anti-Corruption Circle arrested Syed Najam Saeed, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Railcop, along with Muhammad Zubair Hussain, ex-controller of finance, and Mehrun Nisa, ex-director commercial.
The suspects were produced before Duty Magistrate Muhammad Asif Hanjra, where the FIA requested a 10-day remand. However, the court approved only two days.
According to investigators, the accused allegedly forged bank guarantees in the names of United Bank Ltd (UBL) and Bank Al Habib to obtain tenders for railway infrastructure projects. The fraudulent activity reportedly resulted in a loss of Rs164.9 million to the national exchequer.
Defence counsel argued that the arrests had taken place without due process and questioned why no action had been taken against those who accepted the forged documents. The court rejected the request to discharge the accused.
In a separate case, a man accused of murdering a 22-year-old university student of International Islamic University, Islamabad named Eman Afroz at a private hostel in federal capital was remanded in police custody for a further six days.
The suspect, identified as Feroz, appeared before Magistrate Hanjra following the completion of an initial two-day remand.
Investigators told the court they intend to travel to the city of Jhang to recover the suspect's mobile phone and to carry out forensic analysis on video evidence related to the case. Police had sought a seven-day remand.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
