Sehwan Police Book Former Manager Auqaf, Staff In Qalandar Shrine Gold Theft Case

Jamshoro district police have booked a former Manager Auqaf and a private employee posted at the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA) in the FIR of theft of gold and silver worth around Rs 25.7 million from the shrine

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Dec, 2023) Jamshoro district police have booked a former Manager Auqaf and a private employee posted at the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA) in the FIR of theft of gold and silver worth around Rs 25.7 million from the shrine.

The FIR was lodged on Saturday at Sehwan police station on the complaint of Irshad Ali Samo, Administrator Auqaf for the Sukkur and Larkana divisions.

He nominated recently suspended Manager Muhammad Zubair Baloch and his private employee Ali Raza Gopang under sections 407, 409, 380, 457, 427 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant alleged that the 2 accused persons stole over 57 tolas of gold and 3,133 tolas of silver from the shrine’s malkhana (store).

According to him, 210.6 tolas of gold were placed in the store over almost 20 years starting from November 22, 2004, to August 17, 2023.

He stated that 141 tolas of gold were deposited in a locker of the National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) main branch in Hyderabad while 68.15 tolas of gold and 4836.13 of silver were supposed to be the storage in the shrine.

However, he added, when a jeweller was called to weigh gold and silver on December 19 only 11.8 tolas of gold and 1703.4 tolas of silver were found in the store.

The administrator stated that during the departmental investigation, the manager Baloch admitted his negligence that he entrusted Gopang with the store’s key.

He told the police that since the surfacing of the incident Gopang was at large while Baloch had been suspended from his job.

He requested the police to arrest both the accused and to recover the stolen gold and silver.