Five accused of fraud in leasing Waqf board property in Jamalpur

A case has been registered at Gaekwad Haveli Police Station in Ahmedabad against the trustees of Kanch ki Masjid and Shah Bada Qasim Trust.

According to the complaint filed by Mohammad Rafiq Ansari, a resident of Jamalpur, his house belongs to the trust of Kanch ki Masjid and is under the control of the Waqf Board. 

The house was rented to his father 80 years ago for a monthly rent of 25 paise. In Jamalpur, along with the Kanch ki Masjid Trust, there is also the Shah Bada Qasim Trust. Both trusts are registered under the Gujarat State Waqf Board. The trustees of both these trusts collect rent from a total of 27 properties. As per the rules, 7% of the income must be deposited with the Waqf Board.

Since 1980, Abdul Habib Sheikh, Amiruddin Abdul Habib, Mustafa Sheikh, Imankhan Rasul Khan, Sarwarkhan Pathan, Khalil Ahmed, and Abdul Karim Sheikh have been trustees of this trust. 

The trust properties include 100 houses and 25 shops. However, after the death of the original trustees, some individuals allegedly presented themselves as trustees and began mismanaging the trust.

There is a piece of land next to Kanch ki Masjid which was handed over by the trust to the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC). The AMC had constructed Urdu School numbers 9 and 10 on this land. 

However, due to damage caused by an earthquake, the unofficial trustees allegedly exploited the situation by spreading misinformation that the building was unsafe and posed a threat to lives. Consequently, the school was relocated to another location. The building was then demolished, and the trustees allegedly constructed 10 shops on the land.

One of the shops was allegedly taken over by a person named Salim Khan Pathan, who opened the office of Saudagar Constructions in it and leased out the remaining nine shops. The rent collected from these shops was neither deposited with the AMC nor the trust. 

Furthermore, individuals like Mohammad Yasar Sheikh, Mehmood Khan Pathan, Faiz Mohammad Chobdar, and Sahil Yakub Sheikh—who are not registered trustees with the Waqf Board—collected rent from around 25 to 30 shops and nearly 200 houses. Additionally, two illegal six-story apartment buildings were constructed and rented out for profit, as per the complaint.

Salim Khan and four other influential individuals committed large-scale financial fraud by illegally occupying Waqf Board properties and exploiting them for personal gain.