The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday extended the interim bail of Amir Waliuddin Chishti and Syed Ali Farhan, the chairperson and vice chairperson of Karachi's Darul Sehat hospital, respectively, both of whom are suspects in the Nashwa death case.

After a preliminary hearing, a single bench of Justice Salahuddin Panhwar granted pre-arrest bail for 10 days against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each and issued notice to the prosecutor general for the next hearing that has been scheduled for May 18.

Chishti and Farhan had moved the high court after an additional district and sessions court in Karachi turned down their applications for pre-arrest bail yesterday. After the sessions court announced its verdict, they managed to dodge the police and escaped arrest.

Nine-month-old Nashwa was allegedly given improper treatment at the Darul Sehat Hospital on April 7 that paralysed her and eventually led to her death. Last week, the investigation officer (IO) had filed an interim charge sheet against 13 administration members and medical staffers of the hospital, including its chairman and vice-chairman.

The IO, Sub-Inspector Mohammad Saleem Khan, mentioned in the charge sheet that the private health facility was inspected and evidence was collected, including the CCTV footage that showed staffer Sobia Irshad preparing the injection and later nursing assistant Agha Moiz injecting the same to the infant.

The charge sheet stated that during initial interrogation, Ahmer Shehzad, Atif Javed and Sobia confessed to their offence. It added that because the child died during treatment at the Liaquat National Hospital, Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) had been added to the first information report after recording further statement of the complainant.

A case has been registered against Chishti, the hospital owner, and vice-chairperson Farhan as well as six absconding and four detained administration and medical staffers under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 322 (manslaughter) 337 (Shajjah: causing hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC on the complaint of the child’s father, Qaiser Ali.