Manager of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine suspended after theft of gold, silver worth Rs24m

Hyderabad: A total of 51 tola of gold and 3,000 tola of silver kept in the boxes of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Sehwan Sharif have been stolen, it has emerged. According to the Sindh Auqaf Department, the stolen gold and silver is worth over 24 million rupees.

According to the Auqaf Department, the theft of gold and silver was revealed when the manager of the shrine, Muhammad Zubair Baloch, asked an employee to bring gold and silver from the store box to note down their details and transfer them to a bank locker, but the employee did not return, and nor the gold and silver was found.

The manager was later suspended. In his statement, Baloch, son of Lal Muhammad Baloch, said he had been the incharge of the shrine for the last 12 years and during this period, he regularly transferred gold, silver and gifts given to the shrine to the National Bank Fatima Jinnah Branch in Hyderabad.

The chief administrator of the Auqaf Department said 141 tola of gold out of 200 tola of gold was deposited in the Locker No 302 of the National Bank Hyderabad Fatima Jinnah Road branch between 2004 and June 2021.

In the current year, 4,800 tola of silver and 68 tola of gold were stored in the vault of the shrine. On January 11, 2022, then Sindh chief secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah issued a notification to deposit the gold, silver and other valuables collected in the shrine in the National Bank of Pakistan Hyderabad branch.

In the notification, a five-member committee was formed to oversee the transfer of valuables from the shrine to the bank. The committee comprised then Auqaf chief administrator, Jamshoro deputy commissioner, Larkana Zone Auqaf administrator, Admin Auqaf Sindh deputy secretary and Auqaf manager Zubair Ahmed Baloch. However, the notification was not implemented.

When the matter of theft surfaced a few days ago, Sindh Auqaf Secretary Munawar Ali Mehesar took notice of it and formed a four-member committee to trace the culprits.

The investigation committee included Auqaf Administrator Irshad Ali Samoon, Account Officer Muhammad Nawaz Pathan, Audit Officer Ghulam Rasool Soomro, and the shrine manager, Baloch, who has now been suspended.

The manager stated that he had been suffering from some neurological illness for the past five years, due to which he had given the key of the store room to Ali Raza Gopang, who worked at the shrine on stipend.

Baloch said he was going to retire on January 6, 2024, due to which he asked Gopang to take out the gold and silver so that it could be registered and transferred to the bank. However, Gopang did not return, and a month had lapsed since went missing.

Gopang's father Ghazi Khan, who is the muezzin of the mosque at the shrine, said his family had had no contact with his son since the last month. He added that his son was close to Baloch and he did not know where he was.

Baloch admitted his negligence in the matter. Meanwhile, in a letter, the Auqaf secretary stated that Baloch treated Gopang as his adopted son.

The Sindh minister for Auqaf, Omer Soomro, took notice of the matter on Friday and sought a report. He ordered the suspension of the shrine manager and registration of a case. The provincial minister also issued orders to freeze the salary and pension of Baloch.