KARACHI, Nov 1: Another division bench comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jafri granted anticipatory bail to Khwaja Naseer, a co-accused with Usman Farooqui in the Pakistan Steel Mill reference. He supplied carbon material to the mill and was declared an absconder by the trial accountability court.

Co-accused Khwaja Kabeer was acquitted by the court after the trial.

The applicant submitted through Advocates Raja Qureshi and Masooda Siraj that he had been falsely implicated in the case and wanted to surrender before the trial court. The bench allowed him bail in the sum of Rs5 million and directed him to appear before the trial court.

Justice Qaiser Iqbal admitted a dacoity accused, Shakeel Ahmad,to bail. Advocate Akhtar Jamal submitted on behalf of the applicant that he was not named by the complainant, Mohammad Akbar, who said four persons committed dacoity in his Model Colony house. The police, however, added another person and nominated him as an accused. He was shown as absconder.

The court observed that there was no evidence to connect the accused with the commission of the offence and that the mere fact that he absconded was no ground for denial of bail.

NO FURTHER REMAND: The judge also refused further remand of three accused facing a kidnapping and murder case, sent them to jail in judicial custody and asked the investigation officer to complete his investigations and submit a charge-sheet by November 7.