19 June 2004	Saturday	30 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

HYDERABAD, June 18: A court here on Thursday acquitted four accused in the case of Rs1 million bounced checque given to the district nazim by the Zeenas Communications as its contribution to the relief fund for rain-hit people of Badin and Thatta last year.

The second judicial magistrate, Hyderabad, ordered the acquittal after an out of court settlement of the case as the accused had deposited Rs1 million in a bank branch.

Earlier, the accused - Dr Faheem Sheikh, Dr Farrukh Bashir, Mohammad Naeem and Athar Ali Tippu - were booked by the GOR police under sections 420 and 4890(f) of the PPC on the complaint of an Army major.

The major stated that the cheque given to President Gen Pervez Musharraf by the district nazim on behalf of the company had been rejected by bank. The accused were arrested and their bail applications were filed before trial court which rejected them with the directives that section 467 of the PPC should be incorporated in the FIR.

Qurban Ali H. Chohan advocate, representing Dr Sheikh, filed an appeal before the seventh additional district judge who also rejected the bail application and sent the case back to the trial court, observing that it should be decided under the same sections.

Later, both the parties filed separate applications before the court, seeking permission for settling the dispute out of the court, after the accused had deposited Rs1 million in a bank branch.