KARACHI: A session court on Saturday extended the interim pre-arrest bail of a man said to be the business partner of Mir Raza Ali, a young businessman whose body was found last month after he went missing in PECHS.

Muhammad Ahmed Bhardey filed an application before the additional district and sessions judge (East) through his counsel, Khalid Mumtaz, seeking pre-arrest bail in the alleged murder case. On Thursday, the court granted interim bail to Ahmed against a surety of Rs100,000 and issued notices to the investigating officer and the prosecution for Aug 15.

On Saturday, Bhardey’s lawyer contended that his client was being harassed by police and feared being arrested despite cooperating with the investigation.

“My client was the business partner of the victim. He ran one shop while Raza ran the other,” the lawyer submitted, adding that the police had also included his client in the investigation.

The lawyer said Bhardey had been summoned to the crime scene rather than to the police station and alleged that he had been harassed by the previous investigating officer.

Jibran Nasir, the lawyer representing the deceased’s family, rejected the allegation, saying the police had merely summoned Bhardey during the investigation process. He said around 35 witnesses and other individuals had been called and questioned for several hours as part of the investigation.

The court questioned why Bhardey had sought bail when he had not initially been nominated as an accused in the case.

“Think about it. Do you want to pursue this bail or withdraw it?” the court asked the applicant’s counsel. The court also made it clear that Ahmed would have to join the investigation regardless of whether he remained on bail.

Ahmed told the court that he appeared at the police station whenever the police called him.

The court directed him not to leave the city while the investigation was under way and extended his interim bail till Aug 24.

Separately, a hearing was also conducted in the main case presided over by the judicial magistrate (East).

During the hearing, the newly appointed investigating officer (IO) appeared before the court and said the victim’s SIM was required to take the investigation forward.

When asked how the SIM would be obtained, the officer said the police would try to secure it using the biometric verification and Computerised National Identity Cards of the victim’s mother.

The investigating officer also sought more time to complete the medical and investigation reports.

The court granted the IO time to submit the required documents and directed that a progress report and medical examination report be produced at the next hearing on Aug 24.