KARACHI: A legal fight between comedian Umer Sharif and his wife Zareen Ghazal over a house took a new turn at the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday after the purported purchaser filed an application to become an intervener in the case.
In July, Sharif took to the SHC to stop one of his wives Ghazal from selling his personal property.
Through his lawyer, Sharif had filed a suit in the court stating that he was the owner of a house in Army Housing Colony, Askari-IV Karachi. He alleged that Ghazal had “forced” him to sign a ‘gift deed’ of the property in question when he was suffering from dementia.
According to Sharif’s lawyer, the comedian is an amnesia patient. His wife made the ‘gift deed’ following his diagnosis in 2020, and decided to move forward with selling the property without Sharif’s consent.
Sharif, in the suit, had maintained that he was coerced by his wife into signing the alleged deal, as due to his ailment he was not in a position to fully comprehend the ‘gift deed’ nor he could resist putting his signature on the same.
The SHC later issued an interim order, freezing the process of transfer of the property to the purported purchaser named Muhammad Salman. On Wednesday, he applied to become an intervener in the suit.
Salman declared himself to be the sole owner of the property in question. He said the house in Army Housing Colony, Askari-IV Karachi was available for sale on a website and being interested in purchasing it, he approached Ghazal.
According to Salman, after obtaining requisite permission, and verifying the documents such as the registered ‘gift deed’ of April 27, 2021, and its no-objection certificate (NOC), transfer letter, and mutation letter dated June 30, 2021, issued by the Housing Directorate of Army Housing Colony in favour of Ghazal, and an agreement of sale of the property dated July 13, 2021, for a sale consideration of Rs101 million.
The purported purchaser added that the sale deed was signed and executed before the concerned sub-registrar.
Salman told the SHC that without impleading him as a party in the proceedings, the suit filed by Sharif cannot be adjudicated fairly and justly.
The court later issued notices of the application to Sharif, his wife Ghazal, sub-registrar and sought their replies by November 21.
It is important to mention here that the veteran comedian, who is critically ill, had boarded an air ambulance on September 28 (Tuesday), and is on his way to the US for medical treatment via Germany. His wife Ghazal is also accompanying him.