The president of Glendale Heights wants to represent himself in a criminal case

Chodri Khokhar

Glendale Heights Village President Chodri Khokhar wants to represent himself on charges that he filed a false police report.

Attorney Scott Marquardt was allowed to resign Wednesday after telling Judge Daniel Guerin that there were “fundamental differences of opinion about how to proceed” between him and Khokhar.

Khokhar told Guerin he wanted to represent himself, but Guerin urged him to consider hiring another attorney. Khokhar is due back in court on October 30.

Khokhar is charged with disorderly conduct. He is accused of falsely reporting to police that a village manager, Mohammad Siddiqi, had threatened to bite Khokhar.

Ex-secretary sues Glendale Heights village president

At previous court appearances, Marquardt told the judge that he and prosecutors were working on a plea agreement.

On Wednesday, Khokhar told Guerin that the case was based on corruption, discrimination and bias.

After the hearing, Khokhar said: “If I plead guilty, it will be against my conscience.”

The Glendale Heights board is calling on the village president to resign amid criminal charges

He believes the allegations are untrue. He also said that other village officials and a political rival filed false police reports about him, but police and prosecutors did not file charges against them.

He described several officials as corrupt and said they were biased against him and other villagers because of their ethnicity.

The Glendale Heights village leader is charged with filing false police reports

Khokhar said he is running for re-election. “I’m not the type of person to give up. “Why should I plead guilty?” he said.

He also faces an assault charge accusing him of pushing Glendale Heights Police Chief George Pappas.

Khokhar, 68, said he was a lawyer when he lived in Pakistan and also studied at John Marshall Law School in Chicago.