JHANG: Former MNA Sheikh Muhammad Akram and his sons — former federal minister Sheikh Waqas Akram and former Jhang Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sheikh Fawad Akram — have been granted pre-arrest interim bail by the court of additional district and sessions judge in a murder case.

The father and sons were booked on Aug 9 on charges of directing their employee, a bus driver, to crush to death a day before on Aug 8 the passengers of a motorcycle rickshaw, who were relatives of Nazar Hussain – a complainant against the driver in another case of road accident registered on May 26. The accident allegedly involved a bus of Shorkot Transport Company owned by Sheikh Muhammad Akram.

Meanwhile, the Saddar police station where the Aug 9 case was also registered relating to the death of nine people registered another case against the former PML-N parliamentarian under Section 25(d) of the Telegraph Act on the complaint of its Station House Officer (SHO) Abdul Saboor Khan.

SHO Khan claimed in his complaint that on Aug 11 he received a phone call from Sheikh Akram, who threatened him of dire consequences if he did not quash the murder case registered against him and his sons.

According to the first information report, the suspects also hurled death threats at the complainant and warned that he will regret his decision to involve them in a “false” murder case and that they will make an example out of him for the police.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Akram told the media that both the cases were politically motivated and the worst example of vendetta and political victimisation. He explained that the bus involved in the Aug 8 accident was not owned by him nor was its driver his employee; the real owner lived in Kamalia. He also denied having made a threatening call to the SHO. He added that the government was bent upon making them switch their political loyalties at any cost and that was the reason for registering “false” cases against him and his sons.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2019