LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has released a man on bail arrested on a charge of issuing a bogus cheque of 500,000 UK pounds.

The allegation against the petitioner/suspect, Rao Ghulam Mustafa, as per the contents of the FIR, was that he along with his brother received the money from his sister, Dr Akhtarul Islam, to buy a property in her name, which they never did.

When a special attorney of the sister demanded the amount, the petitioner issued a cheque of the like of a foreign currency account, which was dishonoured.

Consequently, the Defence-B police of Lahore registered an FIR under section 489-F of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the special attorney of the woman living abroad.

In his bail granting order, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa observes that the occurrence took place on July 12, 2021, whereas the crime report was registered on Sept 15, 2021. He notes that the petitioner issued the cheque in question to the complainant from whom he did not receive any amount; rather the complainant was a special attorney of the petitioner’s sister, who allegedly paid the amount to the petitioner.

He also notes that the sister neither joined the investigation nor her statement under section 161 CrPC. was available on the record to substantiate the allegation levelled against the petitioner.

The judge observes that the maximum punishment provided for the offence under section 489-F of the PPC is imprisonment for three years or a fine or both.

He says the petitioner has been behind bars since the date of his arrest and his person is no longer required to the investigating agency for the purpose of further investigation.

The petitioner is a previous non-convict with no criminal antecedents, therefore, no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner behind the bars for an indefinite period, the judge adds.

The judge allowed the petition releasing the petitioner on post-arrest bail subject to his furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs500,000 with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.

The judge observes that the observations made in the bail granting order are tentative in nature, which shall have no bearing on the merits of the case and the trial court would, thus, be free to decide the case on the basis of evidence adduced at the trial.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2022