PESHAWAR, July 7: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court on Friday granted bail to a former executive engineer of the construction and works department, Amresh Khan, who had been arrested recently by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The bench comprising Justice Qaim Jan Khan and Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan accepted a writ petition filed by Amresh Khan and directed him to furnish two sureties of Rs5 million each.

Mr Amresh was earlier arrested a few years ago in multi-million rupees Primary Education Project scam during which various officials of the Construction and Works department and primary education department (PED) were arrested.

The NAB had alleged that the accused persons were instrumental in submitting bogus bills to the PED for non-executed works whereby huge amount was illegally transferred from the PED to the then Construction and Works department. Mr Amresh was released in 2003 after his plea bargain application was accepted and he was directed to deposit Rs17.90 million.

The NAB again arrested Mr Amresh on June 21 on charges that he had stopped paying instalments and Rs8.30 million had been outstanding against him.