ATC remands Sindh minister Saeed Ghani’s brother in police custody in assault case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday handed Chanesar Town chairman Farhan Ghani, younger brother of senior PPP leader and Sindh local government minister Saeed Ghani, in police custody until August 28 in a case pertaining to alleged physical assault on a government employee, attempted murder and terrorism.

Farhan and his associates have been booked for alleged assault on a government employee who was supervising fibre optic cable installation work on Shahrah-e-Faisal.

The investigating officer (IO) of the case produced Farhan Ghani, Shakeel and Qamar Ahmed before the ATC’s administrative judge, requesting their 14-day physical remand for investigation.

During the hearing, the IO informed the court that the town chairman and his associates beat the complainant and others present at the work site.

The court also asked why sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act were applied to the case. The prosecutor responded that the complainant and other government workers were subjected to violence, which justified the inclusion of terrorism-related provisions.

The judge inquired about the nature of the work being carried out, to which the prosecutor said the employees were laying fibre optic cables.

Read more: Saeed Ghani's brother arrested in assault case

Farhan Ghani denied the allegations, telling the court that he had neither assaulted anyone nor obstructed lawful work. “I was passing by and asked what work was being done and under whose permission,” he said, adding that as a town chairman, he had the authority to question illegal digging.

The court was informed that the suspects surrendered to the police station and were not arrested in a raid.

Granting the police custody of the suspects until August 28, the judge directed the investigating officer to submit a progress report at the next hearing.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), complainant Hafiz Sohail Jadoon, without disclosing his department, stated that he was overseeing work near Sharea Faisal on August 22 when three vehicles carrying 20–25 people, including Ghani, arrived at the site.

Jadoon said the group questioned whether he had official permission to dig the road. He told them that the necessary no-objection certificates had been obtained, but some members of the group allegedly misbehaved and ordered him to stop work. When he insisted that the work was legal, they allegedly used abusive language and assaulted him.

The complainant further alleged that the suspects dragged him at gunpoint to a room at a nearby fuel station, where he was unlawfully confined and beaten. He said a police team later arrived, freed him, and took him to the station, where the FIR was lodged.