KARACHI, June 27: Justice Yasmin Abbasey of the Sindh High Court granted bail in the sum of Rs200,000 each to five police officials convicted of the murder of Sikandar Ali, great grandson of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in January 1998.

SHO Chaudhry Nazeer of the Jamshed Town police station (since retired), sub-inspector Mohammad Fazil, and head constables Shabbir Hussain Tariq Mahmood and Abdul Hameed were sentenced by the district and sessions judge (East), Mrs Rashida Asad, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years each and pay diyat to the family of Sikandar, whose failure to pay Rs50,000 for his release as illegal gratification caused the custodial killing.

They challenged their conviction and sentences in the high court, which admitted their appeal on June 20.

Arguing for bail on behalf of three of the appellants, Advocate Mahmood A. Qureshi said the conviction was based on misreading of evidence. Sikandar and Ghulam Sarwar, he contended, were co-accused in a robbery case and were beaten up by the residents of the locality when they tried to enter a house. The injuries received by Sikandar caused his death, which was blamed on the appellants, he said.

Demolition restrained: The Sindh High Court restrained the Faisal Cantonment Board from demolishing the under-construction Institute of Clinical Psychology of Karachi University in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

The university moved the high court after the cantonment board lodged an FIR against it alleging unlawful construction on a plot. It said the plot was allotted to it by the Karachi Development Authority about 25 years ago.

The plan for construction of an institute of clinical psychology was also approved by the competent authorities. The cantonment board, however, objected to it and claimed that the plot fell within its territorial jurisdiction.

The university assailed the cantonment board’s claim and asserted that the plot was outside the board’s remit. It produced the plot’s registered lease deed in favour of its contention and its counsel argued that the board’s action was without any justification.

A division bench comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Mohammad Athar Saeed issued preadmission notices to the board and other respondents for July 4.

In the meantime, the bench asked both the parties to maintain status quo and suspended the operation of the cantonment board’s letter of May 30, 2006, which questioned the construction work on the plot.