PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench has granted bail to a man arrested on the charge of carrying an improvised explosive device but linked his release to the furnishing of two surety bonds valuing Rs200,000 each.

Justice Lal Jan Khattak accepted the bail petition of suspect Banar Khan, a resident of Peshawar’s Sherekera area, observing that the petitioner was entitled to the concession of bail in light of the evidence available on record.

According to the prosecution, the Counter-Terrorism Department had arrested the petitioner near the main Peshawar bus terminal on Jan 21, 2016, after seizing a five kilogrammes explosive device, electric wires, detonator and some other bomb-making items.

A case was registered against him under Section 5 of Explosive Substance Act read with Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act.

CTD arrested Peshawar resident after seizing 5kg explosive device, bomb-making items

The prosecution alleged that the arrested man was planning to plant the device near Peshawar-Lahore bus stand.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client was arrested several days before the alleged explosive seizure and that he was implicated in a concocted case.

He said his client was initially tried by an anti-terrorism court and was convicted and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment on two counts under ATA and Explosive Substance Act on June this year.

The lawyer added that the high court partially accepted his client’s appeal against conviction on Oct 7 as it set aside his sentence and referred the case to a regular court for re-trial observing that the alleged offence of possessing explosives didn’t fall in the purview of the ATC.

BAIL REJECTED: A PHC bench consisting of Justice Nisar Hussain has rejected bail petition of a man suspected of kidnapping a divisional forest officer of Kohat for ransom and later killing him.

The petitioner, Mohammad Asif, an Afghan national, was arrested in another case when the police came to know that he was also involved in kidnapping and killing of DFO Raziur Rehman, a resident of Urmer area.

Shabbir Gigyani, lawyer for the complainant in the case, said a co-villager, Inayatur Rehman, had planned the kidnapping of the deceased for ransom and therefore, he had hired the petitioner for it.

He added that on April 13, the petitioner had kidnapped the deceased when he was travelling in his car and later, he went to the deceased’s son and received Rs700,000 from him.

The lawyer said the son of the deceased received a call from his father that the kidnappers were planning to kill him and that afterwards, his body was found in a field.

The pre-arrest bail petition of the alleged mastermind of the killing, Inayatur Rehman, has been pending with an ATC in Peshawar.

BAIL GRANTED: Another single-member bench of the high court has granted bail to Rahatullah, a resident of Dara Adamkhel, in a case of the recovery of illegal arms and ammunition from his vehicle on Jan 23, 2016.

The lawyer for the suspect told Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan that the police had wrongly included Section 7 of the ATA in the FIR as the alleged offence didn’t fall under the said law.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2016