PESHAWAR, Jan 23: An additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday dismissed the bail petition of a naib qasid of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) charged with planting explosives near the Chief Minister Secretariat.

The court observed that Mohammad Tufail could not be released on bail keeping in view the evidence on record.

Tufail was arrested on Dec 5 after he allegedly dropped a packet near the Chief Minister Secretariat. Police had recovered an explosive stick from the packet and registered an FIR against him under the Explosive Substance Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

However, charges under the ATA were later dropped by the prosecution.

The counsel for the accused contended that the charges under the ATA had been dropped and his client now was charged only under the Explosive Substance Act. He contended that the petitioner had no intention to conduct any illegal act.

He said the explosive stick did not have any fuse or detonator and it was not dangerous. He added that the accused had dropped the packet, but he did not know about the presence of the explosive stick in it.

He said if his client had any bad intentions, he would have placed a proper explosive device, instead of a harmless explosive stick.

The public prosecutor contended that the accused was caught red-handed. He said that planting of explosives was a crime irrespective of intentions behind it.