KARACHI, Aug 21: Civil rights campaigner Mohammad Iqbal Kazmi was on Tuesday granted bail in the fifth and last case against him by the court of the judicial magistrate-1, East.

Fixing Sept 12 as the next date for proceedings, judicial magistrate Shamsuddin Junejo granted bail in the case of a fraudulent cheque for Rs22,000 against a surety bond of Rs20,000.

The case (FIR No. 147/07) under Section 489-f was registered on June 20 this year by transporter Abdul Hakeem in the Al-Falah police station. Mr Kazmi is facing two cases of fraudulent cheques in the same court, the other one (FIR No. 145/06) registered by Ghazanfar Riaz, son of Riaz Hussain Shah, who sold Mr Kazmi a plot in Industrial Area Korangi.

Mr Kazmi submitted a bail application on August 10 and the court granted bail in one case on August 18. The second one was kept pending until August 21 since the police had not provided a copy of FIR and the charge sheet.

Mr Kazmi had told the court on August 18 that investigation officer ASI Basharat and other police personnel were charged in the murder case of an accused, Abdur Rahim Baloch, and were unable to produce the copy of the FIR and charge-sheet. The judicial magistrate had directed the Shah Faisal Colony police to collect the documents and produce them, which they did but the charge-sheet submitted to the court was found incomplete.

According to Mr Kazmi, he had bought a plot from Riaz Hussain Shah for Rs500,000 and had paid Rs250,000 in cash. Later, he came to know that the plot had been forcibly occupied. “When I demanded my money back, he gave me a cheque for Rs250,000 which he said had not been honoured,” said Mr Kazmi. He maintained that the cheque should have been cashed on March 31, 2006, but the party intercepted his car in the limits of the Al-Falah police station on March 30 and fired at him. Mr Kazmi told the court that a police party reached the spot but his assailants escaped. The police later registered a case (FIR No 48/06) in the Al-Falah police station under Sections 324, 34 and 427 of the PPC but no action had been taken against the accused.

Mr Kazmi told the court that he had not issued the cheque and that his signature had been forged. He alleged that the complainant Ghazanfar Riaz and his father Riaz Hussain Shah had held his family hostage and taken away his chequebook and household items amounting to about Rs900,000. He said that he had been in Sehwan, Sindh, when his wife informed him about the incident and he lodged a case (FIR No. 161/06) under Sections 448, 354, 342, 506-b, 427/34 and 489-f.

After hearing the arguments, the judicial magistrate granted Mr Kazmi bail and directed him to appear in court on the next date of hearing.

Subsequently, Mr Kazmi told reporters that all the cases against him are baseless and that there are discrepancies between the FIRs and charge-sheets. This, he said, had also been pointed out by judicial magistrate-I, South, Allah Bachayo.