ISLAMABAD: The Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court Rawalpindi on Thursday dismissed an application filed by former MNA Hanif Abbasi for acquittal in the ephedrine case.

Special Judge Akhtar Bahadur also decided to indict Mr Abbasi on September 2 and summoned all the witnesses in the case.

On August 25, Mr Abbasi submitted an application requesting the court to acquit him. Earlier, the court had deferred the indictment of Mr Abbasi, his brother and five others till Aug 28.

During the course of haring, the counsel for Mr Abbasi claimed that his client was innocent and the case against him was fabricated and politically motivated. He requested the court to pass an acquittal order. The counsel argued that according to the challan the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had submitted against his client, there was no likelihood of the conviction.

However, the ANF opposed the application and informed the court that it had submitted the challan to the court in which Mr Abbasi was the main accused.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014