KARACHI: Three officials who were incharges of the case properties belonging to three districts kept in the malkhana obtained pre-arrest bail after they were nominated in a case pertaining to an incident of fire in the warehouse.

The suspects — Turab Maari, Shakeel and Sattar — the then incharges of Central, South and East districts, respectively, have been booked in a case pertaining to the incident of fire in the malkhana that destroyed the evidence and case properties of three districts on April 11.

A case against them was registered under Section 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at the City Courts police station.

The fire, erupted on April 11, destroyed case properties belonging to South, East and Central districts

The suspects moved applications before the judicial magistrate (South) concerned seeking bail before arrest in the case since the sections mentioned in the first information report (FIR) were bailable.

They were granted pre-arrest bail against a surety bond of Rs50,000 each.

FIR registered

Earlier, the SHO of the City Courts police station Sub-inspector Zulfiqar Ali lodged an FIR against them on July 31 after receiving a letter from the district and sessions judge (South), asking to get the case of the incident registered.

The FIR stated that a fire broke out in malkhana at 0215 hours on April 11, adding that the fire completely damaged the properties belonging to South and East districts in the warehouse located on the premises of the City Courts judicial complex.

It further stated that the fire also destroyed the old record of Central district, including the case properties in the case registered at three police stations — Sharifabad, Supermarket and Samanabad — in 2018.

The explosives and ammunitions, which were case properties in the cases of East and South districts, also exploded in the fire, which panicked the residents of the area, it added.

The content of the FIR stated that a judicial inquiry into the incident was ordered and the same was conducted by the judicial magistrate-VI (South) while the senior police officials also conducted an inquiry.

The complainant stated that it was found that some unknown accused person(s) had deliberately ignited the fire in the warehouse with the intention to cause terror and benefit the accused persons (related to the case properties).

It stated that negligence was found on the part of the incharges of South, East and Central districts.

Therefore, the investigating officer submitted a copy of the FIR to the court of the judicial magistrate (South) concerned.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2018