LAHORE: In a scam of its kind, officials in Kasur district jail allegedly sold the high quality soil of several acres of government land to the local mafia for millions of rupees.

The issue surfaced when an initial inquiry confirmed the allegations stating that the Kasur prison officials sold over 1,000 truckloads of soil after massive digging in the state land of the jail.

An official privy to the development told Dawn that the inquiry report held a recently transferred superintendent of jail and other officials guilty of charges.

He said it proposed stern action against them for inflicting loss worth millions of rupees on the exchequer and state property.

The official said the inspector general of prisons Punjab referred the matter to the home department for further high-level investigation into the illegal digging and theft.

Over 1,000 truckloads of soil worth millions was sold after digging in jail land

He said the purpose of involving the home department authorities was to expand the scope of inquiry to check involvement of more senior officials, if any.

The IG prisons has also recommended the matter to the anti-corruption establishment (ACE) to initiate criminal proceedings against the guilty officials.

The initial probe carried out on the directions of the prisons IG held Kasur former superintendent jail Ghulam Sarwar Sammra and some other officials guilty, he said.

The official said prime suspect Sammra had served for a period of over two years as Kasur superintendent jail and he was recently transferred from the jail to the IG prisons office.

Commissioned in 1929, the Kasur district prison sprawls over 32 acre land other than the jail colony on an area of over seven acre and agriculture land on eight acre. The authorised accommodation of the jail was 444 prisoners whereas 1,506 inmates were confined there.

The official said the inquiry report was presented to the IG prisons during an emergency meeting he called here on Tuesday.

Punjab IG (prisons) Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig confirmed to Dawn that the incident surfaced in Kasur district jail, saying the department had taken immediate action and would not spare such elements.

“We have inquired the matter at the level of the department and the report held former superintendent jail and some other officials guilty,” he said adding that the issue had been referred to the anti-corruption establishment and the home department.

He said the inquiry report showed that the officials sold 1,064 trolleys/trucks carrying mud during massive digging in the Kasur district jail land.

Mr Baig said deep digging was carried out on the jail premises for many weeks and no one took any notice.

“Apparently, the Kasur jail officials dodged the entire surveillance system of the prisons department as the digging can’t be done in a few days,” the IG said.

He said the theft unearthed when his department transferred Ghulam Sarwar Sammra and replaced him with a relatively honest official Mohammad Arshad as new superintendent jail.

Within a few days of his posting, he had noticed the digging on the official land of the jail colony.

To a question that one of the officials held guilty of charges was a Green Card holder and was preparing to flee Pakistan to avoid criminal or departmental action, he confirmed it saying that the department sent the recommendations to the higher authorities keeping it in view.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2022