4 years after Nasla Tower's demolition, ex-SBCA DG, other officials cleared of corruption charges

An anti-corruption court in Karachi on Thursday acquitted 19 accused, including former Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) director general Manzoor Qadir Kaka, in a case pertaining to illegal allotment of a service road for construction of the Nasla Tower.

The verdict came four years after the 15-storey residential and commercial building on Sharea Faisal was demolished on the orders of the Supreme Court, which ruled that it had been built on encroached land in violation of building laws.

The anti-corruption court judge announced his order after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and defence. He ruled that the prosecution failed to establish charges of fraud, forgery and corruption against the accused.

According to the prosecution, 341 square yards of a service road on Sharea Faisal were unlawfully occupied for the tower’s construction.

Those booked included the building’s landowner Abdul Qadir (who died during trial), the project’s builders, officials of the Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society, senior officers of the Master Plan Department, and others.

Among those acquitted were Naveed Bashir, Farhan Qaiser, Mohammad Asif, Wilayat Ali Data, Bashir Ahmed Khan, Hafiz Mohammad Javed, Khawaja Badi-uz-Zaman, Syed Mohammad Zia, Ashkar Dawar, Ali Ghufran, Ali Mehdi Kazmi, Abdul Sami Soomro, Safdar Magsi, Sarfaraz Hussain, Mustufa Rangwala, Muzzammil Ameen Darzi, and Dr Ghous Mohammad Khan.