KARACHI, March 9: Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed of the Sindh High Court on Thursday extended the interim bail granted to Mukesh Kumar, a PPP member of the Sindh Assembly, till March 20.
The applicant was earlier admitted to protective bail before arrest against a solvent surety of Rs300,000. He was subsequently booked in a case registered under sections 353, 392, 393, 427 and 506 (2) of the Pakistan Penal Code by the Preedy police station.
The FIR was lodged on a complaint filed by DSP Fateh Muhammad, who alleged that the accused tried to snatch his wrist-watch and wireless set and also obstructed him in the performance of his official duty.
The interim bail came up for confirmation before the CJ, who heard the applicant’s counsel, Adnan Karim, and Assistant Advocate-General Arshad Lodhi in his chamber. At the request of Advocate Adnan Karim, the matter was adjourned to March 20. The interim bail order was extended till the next date but the applicant was asked to co-operate with the prosecution in investigation of the case.
A large number of PPP men, including Sindh Assembly opposition leader Nisar A Khuro, were present were present in the corridor outside the CJ’s chamber. A number of plainclothes policemen who came to arrest the MPA in anticipation of rejection of his bail plea also dispersed after the hearing.
Mengal case: Balochistan National Party president and former chief minister Sardar Akhter Mengal is involved in a murder case and other serious offences and that was why his name was put on the exit control list, the federal interior ministry informed the Sindh High Court on Thursday.
The allegations were contested by the ex-CM’s counsel, Raja Qureshi and Syed Ghulam Shah Bukhari, and a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Sain Ali Dino Metlo, which heard the case in chamber, adjourned further hearing to March 22 for ascertaining the factual position. Federal government’s standing counsel Mahmood Alam Rizvi sought time to produce more documents on the ministry’s behalf.
The petitioner said he was allowed by an SHC division bench to proceed abroad in July 2005. The interior ministry was asked to remove his name from the ECL. He was, however, not permitted to travel abroad despite court orders.
His counsel submitted on Thursday that the government was asked by the SHC bench which allowed the petitioner’s plea whether any case was pending against him. No criminal or accountability case or charge was found pending against him.
The petitioner, the counsel said, was discharged in the murder case registered by the Khuzdar police station in 2003. No state counsel cited the case to justify the travel ban on him in proceedings on his petition in 2005.
According to the record brought by an interior ministry official, the petitioner was involved not only in the 2003 murder case, in which army personnel were killed, but other grave offences of sensitive nature. Federal attorney M A Rizvi sought time to produce more material and the bench adjourned the hearing.
RAUF SASOLI: Another division bench, comprising Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Zia Pervez, also adjourned a petition seeking recovery, production and release of Jamhuri Watan Party deputy secretary-general Rauf Sasoli to March 22.
Petitioner Hazoor Bakhsh Sasoli, brother of the JWP leader, submitted through Advocate Noior Naz Agha that Rauf Sasoli was whisked away by five policemen in his own car as he came out of the Safari Park, Karachi, on Feb 3. Only three of the cops were in uniform. He has not been seen or heard of since. There was no case or inquiry pending against him. He apprehended threat to his brother’s life and limb and requested the court to order his recovery and production.
LJ man: The Sindh High Court administrative judge for anti-terrorism courts in Karachi on Thursday remanded Mohammad Anwar, brother of a convicted Lashkar-i-Jhangvi activist, in police custody in a sectarian killing case till March 18.
Anwar alias Osman Baloch is charged with killing Syed Asghar Ali Zahidi in Baghdadi on May 7, 2002. The police said he was arrested on March 8 in another case and disclosed his involvement in the 2002 murder during investigation. He said he belonged to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.
He was produced before Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on Thursday for obtaining his remand.
His mother, Mah Bibi, however, filed a petition against his arrest and detention and the court directed the home department on Wednesday to ascertain his whereabouts.
His brother, Gul Hasan, was earlier sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court of Karachi on June 4, 2005, for masterminding suicide bombings at Imambargahs Hyderi and Ali Raza, which left 45 people dead and 127 others wounded in May 2004.
By another order, meanwhile, the judge sent three accused facing kidnapping-for-ransom charges to jail and asked the investigation officer to submit chargesheet against them on March 18.
Haneef, Imdad and Ali Haider are accused of kidnapping Syed Majid Hussain Zaidi for ransom from Gulshan-i-Iqbal on December 15, 2005.
Police said the accused took the hostage to Khairpur Nathan Shah, Dadu, and demanded Rs10 million as ransom from his family.
The victim was recovered by police on Jan 26 after an encounter with accused and their accomplices at Dadu.
