KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail applications of former revenue DEO Allah Bachayo and two others in a case pertaining to illegal sale of 177 acres of land.

Headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh, a two-judge bench rejected the bail applications after hearing final arguments from the defence and prosecution sides.

According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the accused persons in connivance with each other prepared forged documents for 177 acres of land and sold it illegally. Total loss caused to the national exchequer was Rs380 million, the NAB maintained.

The accused persons, however, denied the charges and termed them baseless.

They prayed to the court to approve their bail applications as, according to them, they had nothing to do with the said offence.

Conviction set aside

An appellate bench of the high court set aside the conviction of a man who was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 14 years for possessing explosive material.

The bench exonerated Mohammed Ibrahim of the charges and ordered his release if his custody was not required in any other criminal case.

The appellant was awarded the 14-year term by an antiterrorism court in the explosive material case in 2015.

The convict through his counsel challenged the punishment awarded by the trial court and submitted that the prosecution had failed to submit any concrete evidence against him.

The defence counsel contended that the ATC did not follow due procedure while convicting Ibrahim. He also contended that the prosecution failed to bring incriminating evidence against the accused person.

The defence counsel prayed to the court to set aside the conviction awarded to his client and order his release forthwith.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the SHC bench set aside the punishment and ruled that the convict should be released if not arrested in any other case.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2017