KARACHI: A court on Wednesday granted bail to a detained actor and another person in a case pertaining to the alleged recovery of liquor from their possession at a guest house in Clifton.

The suspects — Mohammad Ali Saleem, the host of the television show Begum Nawazish Ali, and Atiqur Rehman, the manager of the guest house — were arrested between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning for allegedly possessing two bottles of liquor.

Later, the investigating officer (IO) produced both the detained suspects before a judicial magistrate concerned and requested for their physical remand in police custody.

The IO informed the court that acting on a tip-off about the presence of some suspicious persons and sale of liquor at a private guest house located in Phase-V Extension of the Defence Housing Authority police conducted a raid and asked the manager Atiq to allow them to search the rooms.

He further mentioned that the guest house’s record showed that Ali Saleem was staying in a room on the first floor, adding that as soon as the SHO along with an employee entered Saleem’s room another unknown man immediately rushed to the bathroom.

He added that two bottles of liquor were found in the room while Saleem raised hue and cry as soon as the policemen tried to arrest him due to which more than 20 men and women from other rooms also gathered.

However, the IO said that Ali Saleem and Atiqur Rehman were taken into custody and booked in a case under Section 4 (owning or possessing intoxicant) of the Prevention (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance 1979 at the Clifton police station.

Meanwhile, the suspects moved application through their counsel who pleaded for their release on bail.

The magistrate took up the bail pleas in the chamber and granted them bail against a surety bond of Rs10,000 each. The judge also ordered to release both the men if their custody was not required in any other case.

Narrating the event, South SSP Omar Shahid Hamid told Dawn, “The raid was conducted on information that an underage boy was being held at the guest house against his will. While the police party was searching the premises, it came across actor Ali Saleem who seemed intoxicated.

“The actor grew agitated and started assaulting and abusing the police. The police however managed to recover the boy and detained four men. Saleem was taken for a medical test on Wednesday morning where he tested positive for alcohol.”

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2018