LAHORE: An additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday dismissed interim pre-arrest bail of two prime suspects allegedly involved in committing a fraud in the name of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan Trust Hospital.

The suspects -- Shaukat Babar Virk and Saeed Ahmad -- contended through their counsel that they had been implicated in a “false, frivolous and baseless” case.

Naseerabad police had registered the FIR on March 5, 2024, on an application of Rae Ansar Ali, Sub-Registrar, Gulberg Town.

The complainant alleged that on Oct 6, 2021, an amended trust deed on behalf of Dr AQ Khan was received in his office for registration.

He said another trust deed on behalf of Shaukat Babar Virk, acting chairman, was also received for registration, along with a resolution to the effect that all the rights of chairman Dr AQ Khan were suspended and a new body of the trust was constituted and the trust deed was registered.

The complainant said it came to his knowledge that the suspects, including Virk, Muhammad Sohail and Saeed Ahmad, had no authority to suspend the chairmanship of Dr AQ Khan, but they managed the same to drag money from the trust and prepared the fake and fabricated resolution.

During the bail hearing, AD&SJ Shoaib Anwar Qureshi rejected an objection by the petitioners’ counsel on the appearance of Dr Dena Khan, the daughter of late Dr AQ Khan, through her counsel.

The judge observed that Dr Dena, who claimed to be chairman of the trust, was directly related to the case, being victim of the alleged fraudulent transaction.

Advocate Rana Nadeem Haider argued on behalf of Dr Dena and opposed the bail petitions of the suspects.

In his order, Judge Qureshi observed that the prosecution witnesses corroborated the contents of the FIR.

He said at the bail stage, only the tentative assessment of the material was made and the deeper appreciation of evidence was neither required nor plausible.

The judge noted that in the tentative assessment there was sufficient material against the petitioners to rule out the mala fide to drag into fake and fabricated litigation.

The judge dismissed the bail petitions.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2024