Pir held for defrauding widow of Rs10m for 'legal services, exorcism and investment'



The Islamabad police have arrested a fake pir (faith healer) for defrauding a widow of around Rs10 million which he had taken for “legal services, exorcism and investment”.

The Ramna police arrested Amir Nadeem Alvi after the woman lodged a complaint with them on Sunday.
Alvi, however, was released on bail on Monday after he reached a settlement with the complainant, the police told media men.
The police added that the case was still open and they would submit a challan in the court soon.
According to the woman’s complaint, she needed to file an inheritance case in court after her husband’s death in 2014 and went to Alvi for assistance.
The pir told the widow, a Sector G-10 resident, that he knew people in courts and would take care of her case. He took Rs1.8 million for the lawyer’s fee and another Rs1 million for the judge.
“He [Alvi] told me that the case was very complicated and difficult, and the judge would either dismiss it or rule against me,” the woman maintained in her complaint.
Though the case was decided in 2015, the pir did not let the woman know about this.
On April 15 this year, Alvi approached the woman again and demanded another Rs1 million saying that case was going against her and an FIR would be registered against her and her daughter if she did not pay the money.
When the woman contacted the lawyer, he told her that Alvi had only paid him Rs30,000 and had not given money to any judge. After this, she approached the police and lodged a complaint against Alvi.
She said the pir had also taken Rs1.57 million from her to exorcise evil spirits from her and her daughter.
Once the suspect approached the widow and told her that her dead relatives had come to him in a dream and asked him to take Rs121,000 from her for sadqa (charity).
He also took £17,800 from her to invest in a business, which turned out to be a fraud.
“When I asked him about the business a few days later, [I came to know that] there was no business. However, he had purchased a new car worth Rs3 million,” she stated in her complaint. “Prior to that, he didn’t even have money to buy a motorcycle.”
When she demanded her money back, the pir told her that according to her stars it was not a good time to invest and she should wait. “I have been waiting ever since,” she said.
The complainant said Alvi had also taken Rs800,000 from her on two other occasions for investing in catering and oil businesses.
Then he allegedly took Rs25,000 as nikah fee at the wedding of the widow’s daughter and another Rs10,000 to pay the nikah registrar.
The woman in her complaint cited several other occasions when the pir had taken money from her, the overall amount coming to Rs10,932,000.
The investigation officer of the case said Alvi, a resident of Islamabad, was a fake pir and palmist.
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