KARACHI: A sessions court on Monday granted post-arrest bail to a suspected gangster in a case pertaining to possession of an illegal weapon.

Accused Nisar Ahmed, alias Mullah Nisar had filed an application, through his counsel Osama Ali Gujjar and Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh, before the additional district and sessions judge (South), seeking post-arrest bail in the case.

After hearing the prosecution and defence counsel, the court granted bail against a surety bond of Rs100,000.

However, the accused will remain behind bars as he is facing trial in over a dozen criminal cases.

According to the prosecution, police in 2022 stopped Mullah Nisar during routine patrolling and during a search, recovered a.30-bore pistol along with a magazine loaded with five live bullets.

As per FIR, when the suspect had failed to produce a valid arms licence, he was taken into custody and a case was registered against him at the Kalri police station.

In the bail application, the defence counsel contended that the alleged recovery was foisted upon their client by the police with mala fide intent, merely to show departmental efficiency.

They argued that, according to the police version, the suspect was found in possession of arms and ammunition at a specific location, but the police made no effort to associate any private witnesses with the recovery process, which they described as a violation of Section 103 of the criminal procedure code.

The counsel also submitted that Mullah Nisar did not resist arrest, despite allegedly being armed, making the entire incident appear “unbelievable and unnatural”.

The defence maintained that the prosecution failed to produce any evidence linking the suspect to any banned organisation or to establish that the arms and ammunition had been acquired illegally or used in any criminal activity.

It was pointed out that there was no clarity in the police report about whether the recovered pistol bore a serial number, had no number or had a tampered one.

However, a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report later stated that the weapon had a serial number but not clear and was tampered with, which, according to the defence, raised further doubts and warranted deeper inquiry into the case.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2025