UET student fled to China with Rs. 250,000 from fake concert tickets’ money

February 8, 2009

UET student fled to China with Rs. 250,000 from fake concert tickets’ money
Musical concert in Bagh-e-Jinnah Open Air Theatre:

UET student flees after fleecing fellows
* Sial sold 1,000 fake tickets, collected Rs 250,000
* Literary society member says society not involved in fraud

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: A former University of Engineering and Technology (UET) student promised students he would arrange a concert and allegedly fled to China with the money generated from the sale of tickets, Daily Times has learnt.

According to students, Nasir Hussain Sial, former coordinator of the university’s literary society, had promised students he would organise a concert featuring Atif Aslam, Shahida Mini, Ali Zafar, Hamid Ali Khan and other singers.

1,000 tickets sold: Sial was trusted by students and fellow literary society members, through whom he sold the tickets for Rs 250 each. He sold nearly 1,000 concert tickets. The venue for the concert was stated to be the Bagh-e-Jinnah Open Air Theatre. The permission of the Punjab Council of Arts needs to be sought before any commercial event being staged in the theatre.

Later, Sial kept delaying the date of the concert on the ground of the law and order situation in the country and told students the artists could not perform at the theatre due to security reasons. Later, he fled to China, allegedly with Rs 250,000.

Students who had paid for the concert expressed regret at being tricked by Sial. They put up various notices condemning the incident on notice boards around the campus. The university administration also put up a notice and had urged the students to remain calm.

A student of the Electrical Engineering Department who had bought the fake concert ticket said the sale of commercial tickets was not allowed in the university, but the students had bought them in the hope of seeing a good musical show. He said fellow students made fun of those who had bought the tickets. The person who had sold the tickets was seen at the university some time ago, he added. A Civil Engineering student said the literary society regretted the incident and had disassociated itself from Sial.

Not involved: Faizan Hashmi, a final year student and literary society member, said the society had nothing to do with the fraud. He said some students were putting up accusatory notices blaming the literary society for the fraud but it was Sial who tricked everyone, including the society members. He said angry students had written his number on their notices and they could be expelled for repeatedly maligning the society.

link: Daily Times – Leading News Resource of Pakistan